In 2005, The Ultimate Fighting Championship's heavyweight division was not the robust division one talks about now. In fact, it wasn't even close; To make the argument that it was a joke is probably being a little too generous. Its Heavyweight champion was Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia, who everybody knows looks quite awkward throwing punches and standing there in a ring. Frank Mir had been injured in a car accident. Andrei Arlovski's chin was in the best days of his career. It got so bad that at one point, the Zuffa brass coaxed a then retired Randy Couture out of retirement and got him to move up to heavyweight, so he could challenge Sylvia for the title.
Over in Japan, The Pride Heavyweight division was a who's who of the game, with Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Coleman, Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira and of course, Fedor Emelianenko.
Of course, The UFC has recovered from those doldrums. Now featuring a fantastic division with the likes of Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, a now recovered Frank Mir, Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar, its no secret that the majority of the world's top 10 (2/3rds at least) fight in the UFC.
Yet, there might be one person who disagrees with that argument : Alistair Overeem.
Yes, we all know about Overeem. We know that he went from being a middle of the pack light heavyweight, not seeming to be able to get past the likes of Chuck Liddell, Noguiera (twice), and Vitor Belfort, to being what he is now, a giant hulk of a man people affectionately call "Ubereem", as a play on the size he has put on to make a push in the heavyweight division. He won the Strikeforce Heavyweight strap in 2007 with a victory over Paul Buentello, then through a rash of injuries (most can be attributed to his size), his commitment to K-1 and fights in Japan, He hadn't fought a fight on the North American continent until last year, when he dismantled challenger Brett Rogers.
With the Strikeforce Grand Prix being announced earlier this year, Overeem claimed he was going to prove to everybody that he was "the best fighter in the world". He also blamed his MMA hiatus on Fedor Emelianenko and his management team, M-1 Global, saying they refused to fight him. Everybody in his path had been dispatched of, including a victory over UFC castoff Todd Duffee on last years Dynamite! card in Japan.
So fans figured against Fabricio Werdum last Saturday night in Houston, they would probably see the same.
Instead, we got an ordinary effort from "The Demolition Man", as yes he was dominating with his strength and size, but never seemed to put Werdum away or even manage to get close. Several times, we saw Overeem throw the BJJ world champion Brazilian down, but every time Overeem implored Werdum to get up, as he wasn't going to fall feign to what had happened to Fedor Emelianenko. Several times we also saw Overeem tag Werdum with heavy shots and peel back, as if to not worry about the finish. When we got the chance to finally see the Dutch product's ground game, it was a rather soft one : He was able to hold Werdum down, but could not advance his position past Guard, everytime scrambling and getting back up. It was an odd performance, despite the judges scorecards reading victory for him.
So, is Alistair Overeem's expectations of himself too high? Is it too much to think he is a great heavyweight? At this point, I'd have to say yes. There was the argument that Overeem's victory in the K-1 World Grand Prix last year in Japan made him the best striker, but the performance Saturday night was definitely an odd one. Junior Dos Santos dispatched Shane Carwin with effective striking and making him hurt, unlike Overeem and its safe to say right now he might be the best striker in MMA. That being said, it could have been an off night for Overeem, and we might be able to see him dispatch of everybody in this tournament with highlight reel caliber finishes.
-In Other news, while the effort of Overeem was a little suspect, it didn't hurt the ratings for the Showtime card. About 1.7 viewers tuned in for the card, peaking at about 719,000, reported by MMAJunkie. It narrowly misses the top spot held by the "Silva vs Fedor" card earlier this year. Although perhaps the heavyweights aren't as solid as the UFC, the Grand Prix concept is certainly one I'd like to see return....even though it looks bleak given the lack of fighters in any division in Strikeforce. As well, CEO Scott Coker says the tourney semis are scheduled for the fall.
-Medical Suspensions were handed out for UFC 131, with Shane Carwin receiving a 60 day no contact suspension with no contact during training for 45 days, thanks to his one handed pasting at the hands of Junior Dos Santos.
-And according to ESPN.co.uk, Tito Ortiz "begged" for his upcoming fight against Ryan Bader at UFC 132, slated to feature a main event between bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. Tito Ortiz needed a bone, I preferred to have him take on Stephan Bonnar. I'm hoping that after what will likely be another one sided victory for Bader, Tito will merely beg to go away.
Questions? Comments? Leave one at the bottom or email me at mmarmaggedon@gmail.com. You Can also follow me on twitter at twitter.com/mmarmaggedon.
Until next time, fight fans!.
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