Late last year, Strikeforce announced that with their heavyweight division was going in a brave new direction : For the first time since Pride's demise in 2007, a major mixed martial arts promotion would hold a "Grand Prix" tournament, featuring such stars as Josh Barnett, Alistair Overeem, Sergei Kharitonov, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (and of course) Fedor Emelianenko. The tournament's first part of the first round was in February, with "Bigfoot" stopping the legendary Russian and Kharitonov punching his way into the semi finals with a KO over Andrei Arlovski. On Saturday night, 2 more fighters earn their spot in the semi finals, live from Houston, Texas.
Onto my picks :
Alistair Overeem vs Fabricio Werdum - The Main Event features fearsome Dutch kickboxer (who's about as wide as a door frame) Alistair Overeem, against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Fabricio Werdum. Werdum hasn't fought since his monumental victory over Fedor last June, while Overeem has been idle since his one handed dismantling of Brett Rogers last May. This also hasn't been the first time these 2 have tangled : In 2006, The Brazilian handed "The Demolition Man" a loss via kimura in the first round of the Pride Openweight tournament that was won by Mirko "Cro Cop". Since then, Overeem has won the Strikeforce heavyweight title, and K-1 tournaments to establish his striking prowess. I expect Overeem to keep this fight standing, and if Werdum, who's a world BJJ champion can't secure a takedown into a submission as per his repertoire, it might be a long night for him. Actually, it might be a short night if you think about it.
The pick : Overeem by KO.
Josh Barnett vs Brett Rogers - The other quarterfinal in the tourney is between former UFC heavyweight kingpin Josh Barnett and a guy who could pass for Clubber Lang, Brett Rogers. Barnett, who's licensing issues are well documented stemming from a positive steroid test in 2009, has gotten a license from the State of Texas no questions asked. In the meantime, he was fought abroad, winning a pair of fights versus Mighty Mo in Japan and Geronimo Dos Santos in Australia in July of last year. Rogers, meanwhile, recovered from his pasting at the hands of Overeem to win via unanimous decision against Ruben "Warpath" Villareal in Nova Scotia last October (yes, that same Warpath that a 40 year old Bas Rutten leg kicked into submission just 4 years ago).
I expect this fight not to last long. Watch for Barnett to circle, give Rogers angles, and if need be, secure a takedown and go for a submission. Rogers will go for what he's known to do, club and go for a KO. I sincerely doubt that Rogers will get that chance, however.
The Pick : Barnett by decision.
-In other news, several fights were announced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the previous days leading up to this post. The UFC 134 PPV lineup has been announced as full and set, with 5 fights including the main event between middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami (wonder if we'll see a front kick). In addition, UFC 135's main event was announced to feature Jon "Bones" Jones and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, as well as UFC's 138 is set to feature a main event between the 2 best heavyweights in the world today, Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos on November 19th, as reported by MMAJunkie.
-Junkie also reported the winner of the tilt tonight between KJ Noons and Jorge Masvidal is a "frontrunner" to challenge lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez next, CEO Scott Coker has said. Oddly enough, I forgot to mention Noons as a possible challenger when I criticized Melendez's "I'm the best lightweight in the world" comments on Facebook.
-And, I suppose this isn't news but, seeing as how I didn't predict it, the fight I'm looking forward to tonight is between an Overeem....Valenjin, Alistair's brother, and Chad "Wile E." Griggs. It will no doubt be a flat out brawl, with somebody getting their head, ear, or a combination of both getting ripped off.
Questions? Comments? leave one at the bottom or hit me up at mmarmaggeddon@gmail.com or follow me on twitter at twitter.com/mmarmaggedon
Until next time, fight fans!.
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