Alistair Overeem survives 'huge explosion' at Albuquerque hotel ahead of UFC 213
UFC 213's Alistair Overeem was awakened by a huge explosion on Monday due to a fire in the hotel he was staying at.
Prior to his heavyweight rematch against Mark Hunt at UFC 209, 18-year MMA veteran Alistair Overeem had a bad case of food poisoning, but still got the knockout win.
On Monday, just five days out from his UFC 213 trilogy bout against Fabricio Werdum, 'The Reem' was evacuated from his hotel due to a 'huge explosion' and fire in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
According to his Twitter page, Overeem avoided injury and is in good health.
Just survived a huge explosion next to my hotel room.. big boom & flames all ok and healthy tho! 5 days out! @UFC pic.twitter.com/HtV2j2PwMu
— Alistair Overeem (@Alistairovereem) July 4, 2017
The Albuquerque Journal reports:
"Crews are investigating a fire that started Monday evening at a Residence Inn, according to an Albuquerque Fire Department spokeswoman.
Lieutenant Carla Williams said firefighters went to the Residence Inn at 3300 Prospect NE around 6 p.m. and found flames and smoke coming from a storage area.
'Crews were able to contain the fire to the point of origin,' Williams said. 'There were no injuries to firefighters or civilians.'
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Numerous fire trucks and police cars could be seen in the hotel parking lot. Police cars blocked traffic on Prospect, while evacuated hotel guests and employees stood around in the street waiting to return to their rooms."
According to the ABQ Journal, Overeem was taking an afternoon nap when he was suddenly awoken by an explosion coming from the storage building next door.
“I heard a big boom,” Overeem said. “I thought it was nothing going on, but one of my teammates came and got me ‘we need to get out of here now.'”
“There was a huge black cloud,” he continued. “It was a little hectic, but I think the situation is under control now.”
Overeem, who trains out of Jackson-Wink MMA in New Mexico, is the No. 3 ranked heavyweight in the world and is set to take on Werdum at UFC 213. The two heavyweights are currently tied at 1-1.
The pay-per-view, which features a headlining women's bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko, takes place July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.