PHOTO | Alistair Overeem’s mangled lip is a thing of the past

Alistair Overeem’s gruesome lip injury is a thing of the past, as images have surfaced of the heavyweight’s miraculously healed mouth.

Overeem suffered the ghastly battle wound at the hands of Jairzinho Rozenstruik in their UFC on ESPN 7 bout. Overeem was leading the fight, but that all changed in the final seconds of round five. Rozenstruik uncorked a fight-finishing punch that obliterated his opponent’s lips and sealed him the TKO victory.

Overeem was disappointed with the loss, but remained a good sport, smiling through his gaping wound. He promptly underwent surgery to rectify the cut.

This week, ESPN released a video of Overeem after the fight. The black stitches were a great improvement from his previous sliced lip, but they still couldn’t hide the severity of the wound.

“It was a nice fight,” Overeem said in the clip posted by ESPN.

“It was a good scrap. I was winning all rounds, just doing my thing. Too fast of a stoppage if you ask me. I was not out, I was knocked down, getting right back up.”

It is safe to assume that Overeem has been making good use of his time to rest and heal. Whatever he has been doing, it has certainly paid off as the heavyweight is back to business at a media press day in Korea for UFC Busan.

The heavy-hitter was busy cracking jokes and making light of his injury (which looks like it has mended nicely). The remnants of his injury is a far cry from it’s splintered state to weeks ago.

“Tossing out interviews here – like nothing ever happened.”

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“To me, I’m almost pretty again,” Overeem said (transcript via MMA fighting).

“Actually, I am pretty again compared to last week. Because what was it, 10 days ago? And I think it’s looking great.

“I did have any pain at all. I did not feel any pain,”

Major credit to Alistair Overeem’s surgeon who worked magic to restore the fighter’s lip to its former glory.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 12/19/2019.