About Alistair Overeem
Alistair Cees Overeem (born 17 May 1980) is a Dutch former professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is a former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, and was the first fighter to hold world titles in MMA and K-1 kickboxing at the same time. Overeem is also a one-time challenger for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Overeem holds the UFC all-time record for highest significant strike accuracy in the promotion's history (74.3%). == Biography == Overeem was born in Hounslow, London, England, to a Jamaican father and a Dutch mother, whose maternal great-grandmother was an illegitimate child of King William III of the Netherlands. When he was six years old, his parents divorced and he moved with his mother and older brother to the Netherlands, where he grew up in the city of Amersfoort. As a child, Overeem started training martial arts with his older brother Valentijn in order to defend himself from bullying. He decided to pursue a competitive sports career by his brother's example, first in judo and later track and field and basketball. At the age of 15, he followed Valentijn into Chris Dolman's Martial Arts gym to become a professional fighter. Alistair initially did not like the sport, as he was routinely beaten by more experienced students, but he changed his mind when he met Bas Rutten and Joop Kasteel, after which he fully dedicated himself to training.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.