Following his successful debut at UFC 141, Alistair Overeem now finds himself atop the heavyweight division’s contendership.
It’s safe to say that The Demolition Man’s one-round annihilation of Brock Lesnar was tantamount to a broad daylight mugging.
He wrecked him with a demoralising kick to the body, before unleashing a succession of punches to the downed Lesnar, which left the referee with little choice other than to intervene and bring a halt to the main-event’s proceedings.
Apropos his aptitudes, in my honest personal opinion, I, for one, have never doubted his skill set—enough to boldly predict a first-round stoppage, which in the end came to fruition.
Overeem is a former Strikeforce, K-1 and Dream heavyweight champion. In his 36 victories, he has dispatched 15 of his opponents by way of KO/TKO and 19 via submission.
That per se, should be enough to dispel any notions of his legitimacy as a mixed martial artist, but it won’t.
Even with an emphatic victory over an opponent who was supposed to test him like no fighter had before, there’ll still be that section of fans that will continue to doubt his abilities.
The Dutch Cyclone is next slated to throw down with UFC heavyweight kingpin Junior “Cigano” dos Santos sometime in 2012.
With that said, if he were to defeat Cigano, that wouldn’t assuage said fans either.
It’d be a case of he beat a fellow stand-up striker, case closed.
The fans wanted to see Overeem tested against an elite wrestler as well as his reaction once planted on his back.
They got that in the guise of Lesnar, but he failed woefully.
The only way Overeem will be considered an upper-echelon fighter with proven capabilities is if he defeated the top five heavyweights in the UFC assemblage.
So far, it’s one down and four to go.
The fighters in question minus Cigano are former UFC heavyweight titlists Cain Velasquez (NCAA Division-I wrestler) and Frank Mir (jiu-jitsu wizard).
Next on that list is former title contender Shane Carwin (NCAA Division-II wrestler and striker).
Defeating the aforementioned fighters should be enough to satiate the fans in to believing that “The Reem” has the requisite ability to hold court with the best that the UFC’s heavyweight class has to offer.
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