In a shock move Zuffa has given Strikeforce Heavyweight champion Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem (35-11-1) his walking papers today. The reigning K1 kickboxing champion had most recently dropped out of the Strikeforce Grand Prix stating that lingering injuries prevented him from taking a bout in September, a month earlier than his contract called for.

Affairs between the Dutchman and Zuffa seemed to be slide down that slippery slope even further with the announcement that the Reem was going to excersise his right to take a fight outside of the UFC, generally a big no no for DW and Co, who then excercised their right to fire him. This still comes as a surprise as most consider him to easily be in the top ten, if not top five, in the 225 and up division and Alistair even has a fan base already in JMMA, a market that the UFC has been making plans to crack into.

In the long run, White might have just figured Overeem wasn’t worth the trouble. The Demolition Man was only obligated for one more fight before a new contract had to be wrote and (assuming he got past Big Foot Silva in the semi finals) he’d have a nice bargaining chip with the upcoming finals. Overeem has a track record of doing things his way and fighting when he wants to fight, defending the title only once against Brett Rogers since winning the inaugural belt in a fight back in 2007 against Paul Buentello.

Dana very well could have just seen the trouble looming with one of his newest and most high profile fighters and, despite his current status as K1 head and an eleven fight MMA streak to boot, decided to axe it before everyone else started getting ideas.