(Photo courtesy of Fight Sport.)

Now that an eventful 2008 is in the books, Alistair Overeem tells DreamFighters.com that he plans to take a little rest, go on vacation, and maybe even swing on over the Ireland to catch UFC 93 on January 17th.  Lest you think it’s purely a sight-seeing trip, the Dutch fighter says his management team has been in talks with the UFC and Affliction, and Overeem says he’s up for fighting everyone from Fedor Emelianenko to Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir.  

After seeing a very bulky Overeem destroy Badr Hari on New Year’s Eve, we can’t deny that we’d like to see him added to the UFC’s heavyweight stable.  Even signing with Affliction would offer him a fresh list of opponents and probably a nice paycheck, though who knows for how long.  But you put a guy like Overeem into the UFC’s heavyweight division and suddenly you have a lot of interesting match-ups on the horizon, and they’d be particularly helpful in the UFC’s European expansion attempts.

Overeem isn’t the only one thinking about stepping into the Octagon, however, as his old rival Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic says he’ll likely retire in 2009, and would like to have one more fight in the UFC before he does.

“I believe that during 2009 I will fight three more times for Dream, then I hope for a farewell fight in the UFC,” Cro Cop told a Croation newspaper.  

Of course, he also said he needs knee surgery, and that it’s been postponed a couple of weeks while he recovers from the flu.  That would mean he’d first have to recover from surgery, fight three times for Dream without re-injuring himself, then sign a one-fight deal in the UFC, all before the end of the year.

We don’t want to say it can’t happen, but it seems a little far-fetched.  Even if he does find his way to the Octagon, Overeem might already be there waiting for him.  Then he could say farewell to his career and his testicles, all in one night.