With Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett putting the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix to rest, there are now four fighters remaining in the tournament.One semifinal matchup will see Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Overeem face off a…
With Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett putting the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix to rest, there are now four fighters remaining in the tournament.
One semifinal matchup will see Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Overeem face off against former EliteXC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Silva. Meanwhile, the other semifinal will see former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett meet up with dangerous striker Sergei Kharitonov.
However, for the purposes of this article, we are going to be looking at the remaining field as a whole rather than breaking down each semifinal matchup.
With Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett picking up victories at Strikeforce: Dallas, the semifinal matchups of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix are now set. Overeem will meet rising heavyweight Antonio Silva, and Barnett will meet dangerou…
With Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett picking up victories at Strikeforce: Dallas, the semifinal matchups of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix are now set. Overeem will meet rising heavyweight Antonio Silva, and Barnett will meet dangerous striker Sergei Kharitonov.
The date for these semifinal fights has not yet been confirmed, but the bouts will take place before the end of 2011. With the matchups already determined, though, here are some early predictions for how the rest of the tournament will play out.
Despite all the anticipation, tonight’s fight between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum turned into a disappointing fight you’d expect to see in early mixed martial arts (MMA), when fighters trained in only one discipline and did everything they cou…
Despite all the anticipation, tonight’s fight between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum turned into a disappointing fight you’d expect to see in early mixed martial arts (MMA), when fighters trained in only one discipline and did everything they could to take their fights into their realm of success.
From early on in the fight, it was obvious that Werdum wanted nothing to do with Overeem’s striking. However, Werdum actually did find some success when he was forced to stand with the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion.
After being stuffed easily on several double leg takedown attempts, Werdum began trying to bait Overeem to join him on the ground. At one point, Werdum actually pleaded with his hands clasped for Overeem to dive into his guard.
Eventually, Werdum was forced to pull guard in desperation. The few times Werdum was successful in dragging Overeem into his guard, he was unable to mount any type of offense from his back, which may have ended up being the deciding factor on the scorecards.
In fact, Werdum out-landed Overeem 69-48 in total strikes according to CompuStrike. While Overeem unquestionably landed a greater number of power strikes, Werdum was able to hold his own against one of the most respected strikers in the heavyweight division.
By pulling guard, Werdum showed that he would rather lose the fight by desperately attempting submissions for 15 minutes than risk standing with Overeem for any period of time. If Werdum had attempted to stand with Overeem, the outcome of this fight may have been very different.
While Overeem is the more technical and powerful striker than Werdum, he has shown a suspect chin over the course of his career. Seven of Overeem’s 11 career losses in MMA, and three of his four losses in kickboxing came as a result of stoppages due to strikes.
Werdum may not be a great striker by any means, but he was always one clean shot away from forcing Overeem to quit like his brother, Valentijn Overeem, had earlier in the night. Werdum was having some success with knees from the clinch when the fight was standing, but he decided not to continue to exploit that success throughout the fight.
Werdum knows himself better than anyone else though, so maybe he did make the right decision to desperately try to take this fight to the ground. Perhaps Werdum would have gotten knocked out if he continued to stand with Overeem, but at least he would have actually forced Overeem to beat him rather than beating himself.
Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter here.
Last week, Bleacher Report brought you the best knockout videos on YouTube. After listening to the response from our readers, we have decided to do some research on the best submission videos YouTube has to offer.From Pride to Bellator to Strikeforce a…
Last week, Bleacher Report brought you the best knockout videos on YouTube. After listening to the response from our readers, we have decided to do some research on the best submission videos YouTube has to offer.
From Pride to Bellator to Strikeforce and the UFC, we found some of the most memorable submissions in MMA history.
We have narrowed the list and now present you with the 11 best submission videos on YouTube.
Kenny Florian was not the only featherweight to walk away from UFC 131 with a victory. However, he certainly gained more from his win than any other 145-pound fighter, as he likely earned a title shot with his win over Diego Nunes.Dustin Poirier also p…
Kenny Florian was not the only featherweight to walk away from UFC 131 with a victory. However, he certainly gained more from his win than any other 145-pound fighter, as he likely earned a title shot with his win over Diego Nunes.
Dustin Poirier also picked up a victory over Jason Young, but not in the dominant fashion that many were expecting from him. Also, Darren Elkins earned an extremely controversial decision over Michihiro Omigawa.
Let’s take a look at where, if at all, these fighters fit into the top 10 of the featherweight division.
Saturday’s UFC 131 was a big event for the heavyweight division, as the main event between Junior dos Santos and Shane Carwin produced a new No.1 contender to meet UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez.Meanwhile, the UFC added two more exciting heavy…
Saturday’s UFC 131 was a big event for the heavyweight division, as the main event between Junior dos Santos and Shane Carwin produced a new No.1 contender to meet UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez.
Meanwhile, the UFC added two more exciting heavyweights to the mix in the Fight of the Night between Dave Herman and Jon Olav Einemo. Herman was able to finish Einemo, but not before Einemo delivered some punishment.
Let’s takes a look at where dos Santos and Carwin now stand in the UFC’s heavyweight ladder.
