When it was announced recently that Alistair Overeem finally signed with the UFC and would be facing Brock Lesnar as his promotional debut in December, the MMA community began to go crazy with buzz about this clash of the titans.
Overeem, unlike his contemporary Fedor Emelianenko, was wise enough to steer his career towards the big show, and now we’ll learn if the ‘Reem is for real. During his stint in Strikeforce, he was able to run over his opponents with ease, and now that he’s in the UFC, he’ll actually be facing fighters who are just as big, strong, and skilled as he is, if not more so.
In Brock Lesnar, Alistair has to deal with stuffing the takedown attempts of a tank with an NCAA Division I Wrestling pedigree, and it remains unknown as to whether he would be successful at doing so. If Lesnar is smart, takedowns should be his first option at dictating the pace of the fight. As you saw during his fight with Frank Mir at UFC 100, Lesnar took Mr down to the mat and made his face look like dog meat inside of the first round.
Should Lesnar be able to manage a takedown, we’ll see how Overeem deals with the pressure of being under a man who can hurt you pretty badly. ‘The ‘Demolition Man’ is a great striker however, he folds under the pressure of being hit if he cannot take control early. If Lesnar can connect with the same type of power which cracked Heath Hearring’s orbital bone at UFC 87, then we’ll get to see how the Golden Glory product responds.
With a victory over Lesnar, it will automatically boost Overeem’s status as a force to be reckoned with in the Heavyweight division. However, should he lose, it will expose Alistair to a position that he’s not necessarily used to: Underdog
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