Badr Hari vs. Alistair Overeem will headline the upcoming GLORY Collision 4 event. It will take place on Saturday, October 8 at GelreDome in Arnhem, Netherlands.
This will be a trilogy fight, as the two fought each other on two different occasions in the legendary K-1 promotion.
Badr Hari’s rivalry with Alistair Overeem
The first fight took place on new years eve Dynamite!! 2008 event. Hari entered a ring just weeks after losing to Remy Bonjasky in the K-1 World Grand Prix finals. Unfortunately for the Moroccan, Overeem managed to knock him out in the very first round. This infuriated Hari so much, that he declared that he will never again compete at the Dynamite!! and will stick up to stand-up fighting only. This put a potential MMA rematch with ‘The Reem’ on hold. Interestingly enough, this was the Dutch’s fifth kickboxing bout in his fighting career.
However, the rematch actually took place but it was held under K-1 rules. It took place in the semifinals of the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009. This time Hari won the fight after sending Overeem to the canvas two times in one round.
It looked like a third and decisive bout would never happen. Hari, true to his word, stuck to the kickboxing competition circuit. After the demise of the original K-1 promotion, he fought in various organizations before he finally signed a contract with GLORY.
On the other hand, Overeem switched between kickboxing and MMA. He won the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix and after that, he became a full-time MMA fighter. He was quite successful as he held Strikeforce, Dream, and K-1 heavyweight titles simultaneously. His most recent fight took place at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov, where he stopped Alexander Volkov in the second round. A month later he was released by the UFC.
Badr Hari vs. Alistair Overeem: The Final Round
However, after both fighters signed their respectful deals with GLORY, the third fight became a possibility.
Hari made his GLORY debut back in 2016. He entered the promotion’s white ring six times and didn’t win a single fight. He was knocked out or TKO’d four times, and two of his bouts were declared a no-contest. The first was his decision win over Hesdy Gerges at GLORY 51. It was turned into an NC after Hari tested positive for banned substances.
The Moroccan was knocked out by Arkadiusz Wrzosek at GLORY 78. The rematch took place at GLORY 80, however, the entire event was stopped due to a fans riot. As a result, the fight was declared a no-contest, and Wrzosek was released by the promotion.
Overeem was scheduled to make his promotional debut against heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven at GLORY Collision 3. He withdrew due to an injury. A year later he will take on his former rival.
It’s hard to say who will win the entire trilogy, but fans can expect an entertaining bout nonetheless. Despite less kickboxing experience, Overeem was more active than his opponent and won four out of his last six fights in MMA. On the other hand, Badr Hari had some good moments in his GLORY run but those were overshadowed by injuries and other occurrences.
