UFC Heavyweight Alistair Overeem Settles Lawsuits with Former Golden Glory Reps

UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem settles lawsuits with former Golden Glory reps
by Steven Marrocco on Nov 20, 2012 at 5:20 pm ET

A legal fight between Alistair Overeem and his former management group is now over.

The parties have settled and dismissed competing lawsuits filed in Nevada and California, a press release today announced.

"Everyone worked extremely hard to resolve these matters," stated Golden Glory lawyer Rodrick Lindblom.

In November 2011, Overeem sued his former team in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming it bullied him into a bad deal that had him pay 35 percent of his pre-tax earnings. He also claimed the team owed him $151,000 in back pay.

Knockout Investments, the team's corporate parent, countersued in Clark County (Nev.) Civil Court one day prior to the heavyweight's headlining fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 141. It alleged Overeem breached a five-year deal struck with the fighter and didn't pay a 30 percent commission owed in the wake of a June 2011 Strikeforce win over Fabricio Werdum. The lawsuit named then-Overeem rep Colin Lam as a co-defendant.

The same month, KOI attempted to place a court-ordered lien on Overeem's UFC 141 purse and other monies, but was unsuccessful. A second attempt in February won the group a court order to withhold $427,714.27, double the amount of the previous order.

The judgement applied to 30 percent of Overeem's purse, win bonus, pay-per-view proceeds, and payment for ancillary and intellectual property rights.

Overeem, a former Strikeforce champ, broke from Golden Glory in September 2011, citing a "breach of trust." The move came several weeks after he signed a lucrative deal with the UFC that brought him a $1 million signing bonus in addition to a cut of pay-per-view profits.

Overeem, who bested Lesnar to earn a top contender's spot, is scheduled to fight Antonio Silva at UFC 156, which takes place Feb. 2 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and airs live on pay-per-view.

The bout is Overeem's first since he failed a pre-fight drug test for UFC 146 and lost a title shot against Junior Dos Santos.

"Everyone worked extremely hard to resolve these matters so that Golden Glory and (Golden Glory head) Bas Boon can walk away and move forward with the Glory World Series Promotion in Europe, Japan and the USA, and Alistair Overeem can concentrate on his fighting career with his new manager Glenn Robinson at Authentic Sports Management and his new team, the Blackzilians," the release stated.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.