Alistair Overeem is a difficult man to reach. Situated in Holland and with far better things to do than tolerate a bad international cell connection with some typing-monkey blogger, you sometimes have to settle for getting word via email correspondence with manager Bas Boon.

Approaching Overeem for comment came following reports that the Strikeforce heavyweight champion, once scheduled to defend the title in August against Fabricio Werdum, has agreed to two kickboxing bouts in the fall. It’s a curious schedule for a man who claimed an infected hand (from a bathroom brawl at a nightclub) over the summer.

“I apologize [for canceling the Strikeforce bout],” Overeem said. “As the hand is healed now and I got offered to fight in the K-1 World Grand Prix on September 26 in Korea, we decided that it was a good idea to fight my first fight after the injury with bigger gloves [than] an MMA match.”

If Overeem defeats Peter Aerts in Seoul, he’ll be seeded into the final eight for a K-1 show at year’s end. Couple that with an October 11 obligation to kickbox in Amsterdam and he’s left with little availability for an appearance in the US before 2010 -- over two years after his last defense.

The interruption has left some fans wondering if he shouldn’t be stripped of the belt. “I can understand the frustration , but when I fought Paul Buentello and got the title, it was not clear to me when my next fight was scheduled with Strikeforce,” Overeem continued. “There were no more contractual obligations and the Strikeforce from then is not the same as the Strikeforce as now. We never really pushed any follow-up deal as we had a good contract in Japan. After the Showtime TV deal, things got more serious for Strikeforce.”

At present, Overeem has a contract with Strikeforce and expects to be able to comment on his return flight here in October. He has yet to be formally offered the winner of fall’s Fedor Emelianenko/Brett Rogers bout, “but I am sure we will reach an agreement when the opportunity is there. Depending on our schedule in Japan, that fight will happen.”