UFC 213 video recap: Alistair Overeem wins trilogy against Fabricio Werdum

Check out BloodyElbow.com’s recap of the UFC 213 co-main event between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum.

Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum completed their trilogy in a not-so-anticipated heavyweight matchup on Saturday night in the co-main event of UFC 213 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With Cain Velasquez still sidelined, the stakes were high in this pivotal bout, as the winner could’ve been clearly next in line for champ Stipe Miocic. But because Overeem vs. Werdum 3 wasn’t too visibly appealing, rising star Francis Ngannou is probably going to fight for the belt if he gets past Junior dos Santos in September.

The first round of the co-feature was almost as close as you’ll get to a 10-10 round, but all three judges sided with “The Reem” in the opening five minutes, presumably because he landed the harder shots — and to be fair, the difference in amount of strikes in round one was only two, with Werdum landing six and Overeem landing four.

Overeem had a good second round, piling up significantly more offense than the former UFC heavyweight champion on the feet, and even hurting the Brazilian on one or two occasions. Overeem wisely picked his shots and didn’t load up too much on any punches, while Werdum lacked mostly any offense at all midway through the bout.

The third round was the most distinct of all three, and this time, in favor of Werdum. He badly hurt Overeem half way through the round, got on top, and nearly got Overeem out of there in the last two minutes of the fight. The former K-1 champ survived, and ended up winning — just barely — on the judges’ scorecards by majority decision.

What was the highlight of the fight?

Do I really have to pick out a highlight from this “long-awaited” trilogy? Do I really? So, so little happened — the biggest moment of the fight went to Werdum, and he lost the fight. I guess Werdum hurting Overeem, who faded incredibly fast in the final round, was the highlight of the evening’s co-headliner, but realistically, nothing stood out as a highlight.

Where do these two go from here?

If Ngannou beats dos Santos and earns a title shot, the only option for Overeem is a fight with Velasquez. The only problem — and it’s a big problem — with that matchup is how unreliable Velasquez, a former champ, has been throughout his entire career but particularly the past few years. Even if it is officially booked, no one knows that it’ll really happen until the cage door is locked on fight night.

Werdum should fight the loser of the dos Santos vs. Ngannou fight; I think it makes complete sense, especially if that happens to be the Brazilian, as that’d make for an intriguing rematch. If the UFC wants to give Werdum more of a rebound fight, I’d be happy with him fighting Oleksiy Oliynyk, who just picked up a big win over Travis Browne on Saturday (hopefully we’d see some awesome grappling exchanges in that fight!).

Watch now, later, or never?

Yeah, this is one you can definitely skip.

Great fight by these heavyweight legends!#UFC213 pic.twitter.com/oIf2NM0UEE

— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) July 9, 2017

Check out BloodyElbow.com’s recap of the UFC 213 co-main event between Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum.

Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum completed their trilogy in a not-so-anticipated heavyweight matchup on Saturday night in the co-main event of UFC 213 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With Cain Velasquez still sidelined, the stakes were high in this pivotal bout, as the winner could’ve been clearly next in line for champ Stipe Miocic. But because Overeem vs. Werdum 3 wasn’t too visibly appealing, rising star Francis Ngannou is probably going to fight for the belt if he gets past Junior dos Santos in September.

The first round of the co-feature was almost as close as you’ll get to a 10-10 round, but all three judges sided with “The Reem” in the opening five minutes, presumably because he landed the harder shots — and to be fair, the difference in amount of strikes in round one was only two, with Werdum landing six and Overeem landing four.

Overeem had a good second round, piling up significantly more offense than the former UFC heavyweight champion on the feet, and even hurting the Brazilian on one or two occasions. Overeem wisely picked his shots and didn’t load up too much on any punches, while Werdum lacked mostly any offense at all midway through the bout.

The third round was the most distinct of all three, and this time, in favor of Werdum. He badly hurt Overeem half way through the round, got on top, and nearly got Overeem out of there in the last two minutes of the fight. The former K-1 champ survived, and ended up winning — just barely — on the judges’ scorecards by majority decision.

What was the highlight of the fight?

Do I really have to pick out a highlight from this “long-awaited” trilogy? Do I really? So, so little happened — the biggest moment of the fight went to Werdum, and he lost the fight. I guess Werdum hurting Overeem, who faded incredibly fast in the final round, was the highlight of the evening’s co-headliner, but realistically, nothing stood out as a highlight.

Where do these two go from here?

If Ngannou beats dos Santos and earns a title shot, the only option for Overeem is a fight with Velasquez. The only problem — and it’s a big problem — with that matchup is how unreliable Velasquez, a former champ, has been throughout his entire career but particularly the past few years. Even if it is officially booked, no one knows that it’ll really happen until the cage door is locked on fight night.

Werdum should fight the loser of the dos Santos vs. Ngannou fight; I think it makes complete sense, especially if that happens to be the Brazilian, as that’d make for an intriguing rematch. If the UFC wants to give Werdum more of a rebound fight, I’d be happy with him fighting Oleksiy Oliynyk, who just picked up a big win over Travis Browne on Saturday (hopefully we’d see some awesome grappling exchanges in that fight!).

Watch now, later, or never?

Yeah, this is one you can definitely skip.