Alistair Overeem's greatest UFC hits

#3 Stopping Andrei Arlovski to claim a title shot (2016)

Overeem's knockout of Andrei Arlovski was a thing of beauty

When Overeem was knocked out by Ben Rothwell in late 2014, once again many fans wrote him off as a threat to the UFC Heavyweight title. But just three victories later, and only Andrei Arlovski stood between him and a shot at then-Heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic.

Technically speaking, Overeem probably had a claim to a title shot anyway prior to the Arlovski fight – but the UFC was going to the Netherlands for the first time, and so ‘The Reem’ decided to risk his shot for a chance to fight in his home country.

He didn’t disappoint. Despite Arlovski going after him early with a big flurry, Overeem was able to survive the onslaught and quickly took over the fight, taking ‘The Pitbull’ down and working him over with some strikes from the top to win the first round. The second round though was where the real magic took place.

Overeem began to break Arlovski down with strikes from the outside, and when the Belarusian dropped his hands for a moment, ‘The Reem’ stunned everyone by leaping in to catch him with a left crane kick to the jaw. The kick froze Arlovski in his tracks – and allowed the Dutchman to level him with a left hook that sent him down and out, ending the fight in an instant.

Post-fight saw the fans in Rotterdam go absolutely crazy for their hero, and after a win like this there could be no doubt that Overeem had truly earned his shot at the title.