Author: Dale De Souza

Strikeforce Dallas: What Fabricio Werdum Must Do to Beat Alistair Overeem

Let me start by saying right off the bat that if you are looking for me to say “Fabricio Werdum must do the exact same thing he was able to do with Fedor Emelianenko, and take Alistair Overeem’s punches to lure him into the ground” at anytime during th…

Let me start by saying right off the bat that if you are looking for me to say “Fabricio Werdum must do the exact same thing he was able to do with Fedor Emelianenko, and take Alistair Overeem’s punches to lure him into the ground” at anytime during this piece, you will be greatly disappointed.

If Fabricio Werdum does the exact same thing that he was able to do with Fedor Emelianenko, he will not be able to make good on his vow to “take the other arm” of The Reem because Alistair will be able to back Werdum up against the cage, come forward at a turbo-charged level, and deliver a blitzkrieg of punches and Uberknees to Werdum, meaning this rematch doesn’t last long.

Werdum needs to do the one thing that only Overeem might expect and might have prepared for, and that’s keep Overeem at bay with his reach before taking him down.

Clearly, Overeem is better in the striking, and to the dismay of Werdum, he’s the type of fighter that will use his fists as well as his knees, elbows, and occasionally his legs to chop and blend body parts on the ground regardless of whether he has any business on the ground with them or not.

Werdum may have a strength disadvantage in this rematch with Overeem, but that doesn’t mean that Werdum can’t at least try for a trip takedown and work his game from the top.

It won’t be easy getting Reem to the ground without being tempted to pull guard and hope Reem jumps into it, but Werdum’s last fight proved that fighters can pull out anything at any time.

Taking Overeem down himself in order to get the fight into his world is one of those things, and he could very well get it done tonight.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce Dallas: What Brett Rogers Must Do to Beat Josh Barnett

Probably one of the more interesting bouts in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, Brett Rogers, designated as “The Grim Reaper” in most circles of MMA due to his ability to finish fights quickly and in brutal fashion, gets the biggest test of his c…

Probably one of the more interesting bouts in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, Brett Rogers, designated as “The Grim Reaper” in most circles of MMA due to his ability to finish fights quickly and in brutal fashion, gets the biggest test of his career since his title fight with Alistair Overeem in former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett.

Of course, Barnett has said that he’s no longer “Babyfaced,” so his old nickname may not apply much to him now, but the claim of being one of the best Catch-Wrestlers in the business and having a very well-rounded game–which he can use aggressively without being reckless–still applies.

Rogers has some good Muay Thai and some very notable Boxing, which is a problem for Barnett to begin with,  but the key here for the “leaner and meaner” Rogers is to use some wrestling in reverse.

If this event live from the American Airlines Center in the city of Dallas, Texas–roughly 30 minutes from where I reside quite proudly, I might add–is your first event and you don’t know how to use wrestling in reverse, the basics of it is this:

If Barnett goes in for a takedown, Rogers must sprawl to stuff the takedown attempt, stand up as quickly as he can, and throw an uppercut before landing a nice one-two combo whenever possible.

If defending the takedowns opens the doors for a chance to stand in the pocket, even better, but unless Rogers has evolved to where he actually has some takedowns and some overall Wrestling that’s good enough to at least neutralize Barnett’s strengths, his best bet is to keep it standing and go for the finish.

If it’s any extra motivation: Rogers is a heavy underdog to win here tonight, so what better way to shock all of MMA (and create a stylistically intriguing fight with Sergei Kharitonov) than to knock Josh Barnett out?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 131 Results: 10 Million-Dollar Predictions for the UFC 132 Fight Card

UFC 131 is in the books, capped off beautifully by an outstanding Heavyweight war between Junior “Cigano” dos Santos and Shane Carwin on a night where the judging issue started to raise malevolent mentalities in the minds of the fans.Arguably, many fan…

UFC 131 is in the books, capped off beautifully by an outstanding Heavyweight war between Junior “Cigano” dos Santos and Shane Carwin on a night where the judging issue started to raise malevolent mentalities in the minds of the fans.

Arguably, many fans believe that while the victories of Mark Munoz and Kenny Florian cannot provide true dispute, The argument of Munoz and Florian earning 30-27 scores is definitely disputed as it seemed clear that Demian Maia and Diego “The Gun” Nunes won the first round of their respective bouts.

At this time, however, that argument is neither here nor there, as we must look forward into UFC 132 in a little bit less than three weeks instead of solidly planting ourselves in the memories of last night.

Headlined by a grudge match between current UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz and former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber and co-headlined by a Fight of The Year candidate-on-paper in the long-awaited Middleweight collision between Wanderlei Silva and Chris Leben, the UFC 132 fight card will pick up where UFC 131 left off, focusing mostly on the Light-and-Lighterweight classes and hopefully elevate the momentum gained from last night’s card to a brand new level.

For a million-dollar card featuring some million-dollar fights—all for only about $45 out of your pocket—here now are some million-dollar predictions for the entire UFC 132 main card!

Begin Slideshow

Cerrone vs Rocha Round 2

Rocha landing some good strikes and kneesRocha with a takedown attempt, Cerrone stuffs it.Cerrone stuffs another takedown.Rocha lands a good right. Cerrone keeps up the legkicks.Cerrone stuffs another takedown and gets one of his own.Cerrone still gett…

Rocha landing some good strikes and knees

Rocha with a takedown attempt, Cerrone stuffs it.

Cerrone stuffs another takedown.

Rocha lands a good right. Cerrone keeps up the legkicks.

Cerrone stuffs another takedown and gets one of his own.

Cerrone still getting the better of the standup Throws in a push kick.

Rocha asks Cerrone to go the ground. Cerrone has none of it.

Cerrone stuffs another takedown. Wins round 2 10-9 on my card

UFC 131 Youtube/Facebook Preliminary Fight Replay: Joey Beltran vs. Aaron Rosa

The first round…man that was a crazy round.The second round echoed the first, which I gave to Beltran on Octagon control, but the first round saw a lot of action with both men trading blows against the cage.About two minutes to go in the second and t…

The first round…man that was a crazy round.

The second round echoed the first, which I gave to Beltran on Octagon control, but the first round saw a lot of action with both men trading blows against the cage.

About two minutes to go in the second and the same has happened in round two, except this time an inadvertent ball-shot (knee to the groin) followed by a knee to the head of Rosa causes the clock to be stopped.

Rosa is a gamer though, and he comes forward with lethality in his fists, but this time it’s Rosa who knees Beltran in the groin.

The last minute of the second round  echoes the first a little bit and Beltran lands an inside knee before engaging in an exchange to end the round. Said exchange sees Beltran land a shot after the bell.

UFC 131 Results: Live Play-by-Play and Analysis from Vancovuer’s Historic Card

It’s the heavyweight bout you thought you’d never see, but it’s finally going down!Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos returns after a three-round war against Roy “Big Country” Nelson, and he has his sights set on Cain Velasquez and the UFC heavyweight title ar…

It’s the heavyweight bout you thought you’d never see, but it’s finally going down!

Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos returns after a three-round war against Roy “Big Country” Nelson, and he has his sights set on Cain Velasquez and the UFC heavyweight title around the waist of the AKA behemoth.

Months ago, Brock Lesnar was thought to be the man in Junior’s way of facing Velasquez, but a second bout with diverticulitis has forced Lesnar out, bumping Shane Carwin back into the driver’s seat and back in line for a crack at the belt…

…that is unless Dos Santos will have anything to say about it.

Co-headlining this monumental card from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is a featherweight bout between fast-rising Black House phenom Diego Nunes and now-our-division veteran of the Octagon and TUF 1 alumnus Kenny Florian in a bout that has the potential to be one of the greatest MMA showcases of all time.

It’s all right here, it’s UFC 131, and as always, the Bleacher Report family syndicate has your back on the latest coverage, news, and up-to-the-date analysis of what could be the best fight card of this summer!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com