Valentijn Overeem (; born 17 August 1976) is a retired Dutch professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer currently signed with United Glory. A professional competitor since 1996, he has previously fought for the PRIDE Fighting Championships, RINGS, KSW, the World Fighting Alliance, K-1, M-1 Global, Its Showtime, World Victory Road, and Strikeforce. He is the older brother of fellow MMA Superstar Alistair Overeem. Overeem has notable wins over fighters such as Randy Couture and Renato Sobral. Biography Overeem was born in Amersfoort, Utrecht but now lives in Turkey and is associated with the Imperial Athletics gym in Boca Raton, Florida where he trains with his younger brother Alistair. Along with his younger brother, Valentijn spent part of his childhood in England, which is where his brother was born. RINGS Valentijn was trained at the Chris Dolman gym, where he specialized in kickboxing and sambo before debuting at the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Fighting Network RINGS. In 1999, Overeem participated in the RINGS King of Kings tournament, but he was submitted and eliminated by Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at the first round. He would perform better at the next edition of the tournament, advancing on the first round after eliminating sambo champion Suren Balachinskiy. Overeem earned a yellow card for holding the ropes to avoid a takedown at one point, but he made up by outstriking Suren and focusing on kicking his injured leg, finishing the match by knee strikes. Valentijn then advanced further against famed luta livre practitioner Renato Sobral in an upset. Overeem was the superior striker, prompting Sobral to take him down. Overeem looked for a Kimura lock, the Brazilian reversed it into an armbar creating an exchange that ended with Overeem taking by accident an illegal punch to the jaw that almost knocked him out. As Overeem seemed unable to continue, both judges and the referee proposed to stop the match, but Valentijn's corner insisted on continuing. Returning to the fight, Overeem managed to compose himself and take down Babalu by kosoto gake, which the lutador countered by threatening with another armbar from the bottom. This time, however, Overeem captured a leg and quickly transitioned into a toehold, making Sobral tap out. After eliminating Yoshihisa Yamamoto by armbar in under one minute, Overeem continued advancing, and got another upset by choking out Randy Couture in a failed takedown. The final match of the tournament was against Antônio Rodrigo