<B>By MATT BOONE<BR>
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer</B><BR><BR>
Current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem's next fight has been made official by the event promoter. Unfortunately for MMA fans, it wasn't Scott Coker, and it won't be under the Strikeforce banner.<BR><BR>
Instead, as he has been hinting at in recent interviews, Overeem will return to the K-1 ring during their World Grand Prix FINAL 16 event on October 2nd in Seoul, South Korea. Overeem's opponent that night at the Olympic Gymnasium will be this year's K-1 Oceania Grand Prix champion -- Ben Edwards.<BR><BR>
Edwards, who holds an overall kickboxing record of 37-6-1 (with 12 KOs), won the K-1 Oceania Grand Prix tournament back in July of this year with three first-round knockouts. Edwards took out Faisal Kazaria, Tafi Misipati and long-time K-1 veteran Paul Slowinski all via KO in one round en route to becoming the K-1 Oceania GP 2010 champion.<BR><BR>
Overeem sports a respectable K-1 record of 6-4 (with 4 KOs). On paper the statistic doesn't reflect his current status with the elite kickboxing promotion, as he recently garnered more acclaim under the K-1 banner with his impressive victories over Badr Hari and Peter Aerts. Overeem last fought for the promotion in April at their K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 event in Yokohama, Japan, taking out Dzevad Poturak by knockout due to knee in just over two minutes of the first round.<BR><BR><!--more-break-->
The Overeem-Edwards bout joins Jerome LeBanner vs. Keijiro "Kyotaro" Maeda as matches officially announced by K-1 promoter Sadaharu Tanigawa for the K-1 World GP FINAL 16 event on October 2nd. The event will also feature eight Super-Heavyweight Grand Prix bouts that evening, including participation from Semmy Schilt, Badr Hari, Ruslan Karaev, Ewerton Teixeira and Errol Zimmermann.<BR><BR>
Depending on the physical status of Overeem following the 10/2 K-1 bout, the standout fighter from the Golden Glory camp will be back under the spotlight, as MMA fans look to see who (and more importantly when) he competes again under the Strikeforce banner, defending his heavyweight title against a top contender in their division, which features talent such as Fedor Emelianenko, Fabricio Werdum and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, just to name a few.<BR><BR>
Share your thoughts on Overeem's decision to compete in K-1 for his next fight, as well as the current mess in the Strikeforce heavyweight division, by heading over to the <A HREF="http://www.mmanews.com/forums" target="_Blank">MMANEWS.COM Forums</A> and/or the <A HREF="http://www.facebook.com/mmanewsdotcom" target="_Blank">MMANEWS.COM Facebook Page</A>.<BR><BR>
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