Once again, in my opinion Strikeforce put on another decent show for MMA fans last night. Some questions were answered and some careers may be over. In the main event, Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem took on Brett “The Grimm” Rogers. Overeem did more damage to Rogers than Wesley Snipes did in the whole Demolition Man movie. It was apparent once the fight started, Rogers was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was not able to deal with Overeem's strength, experience, and his ground and pound beat down he received courtesy of Overeem. Many fans wondered why Rogers even got the title shot when he previously suffered a KO by the hands of Fedor. After that disappointing showing by Rogers, the fans and critics were right, he did not deserve to be there.
Multiple World BJJ Champion Roger Gracie took on Kevin “The Monster” Randleman. I am a fan of Randleman and always enjoy watching him fight, but last night he needed a win to possibly keep his career on track. It was not meant to be for Randleman, one of the great pioneers in the sport of MMA. Gracie showed surprising boxing skills by sticking an effective jab in Randleman's face through out the fight, keeping Randleman off balanced. Randleman had a difficult time dealing with Gracie's height and reach advantage while trying to get inside. Once in the clinch, Gracie delivered a few devastating knees that took Randleman down and then Gracie began to do what he does best, that's work his BJJ. Gracie was able to apply a RNC and put "The Monster" to sleep and maybe also his career. I don't know where Randleman goes from here, but I would still like to see him fight again.
Antwain "The Juggernaut" Britt took on Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and there was nothing but heavy artillery being thrown in this fight. These two guys were making sure this fight did not go to the judges scorecard. Britt came out throwing some punches and even caught Feijao at one point but was not able to capitalize on it. Feijao was working the clinch well using some knees to try and catch Britt. Feijao was able to catch Britt with some good punches and one shot that KO'd Britt to end the fight. In my opinion, Britt made the common mistake some wrestlers make when they have KO'd some guys in previous fights, they don't rely on their wrestling skills and think there good enough strikers. Use what got you to the dance and everything else will fall in place.
BJJ World Champion Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza took on Smokin Joe Villasenor and this fight surprisingly went the distance. Souza was controlling Villasenor with take downs and GNP technique throughout rounds 1 and 2. After the second round ended, it was obvious that Souza's cardio was becoming a question because it took him awhile to get off his knees and get back to his corner. In round 3, Villasenor did a much better job defending the take downs and landing good punches to the face of Souza. Towards the end of round 3, Souza took Villasenor down again to insure the victory decision in his favor. The fight was not close on the judges' scorecard, with every judge scoring it 30-27 in favor of Souza. It was a very entertaining fight because Souza could not finish Villasenor and Villasenor refused to quit. I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch down the road between these two fighters again.
Antonio "Big Foot" Silva took on Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski and Arlovski came to the cage more as a MMA model than an MMA fighter. Don't get it twisted, there is nothing wrong with coming to the cage looking good and flashy, but if your fighting skills are not up to par, then what? I am a big fan of Arlovski and wanted him to get back on that winning track but there was a "Big Foot" blocking the path. For some reason, Arlovski felt like standing and trading punches with Silva which made no sense to me. Silva proved that his hands were big and also quick as he caught Arlovski with punches to the face all night. Arlovski did not move his head and had no lateral movement to avoid taking these unnecessary punches and was bleeding from the nose and mouth profusely. Silva took Arlovski to the ground and was controlling him by using his size to keep him there. Arlovski had no answers to Silva's game plan, but he did prove his chin was strong enough to take those punches from Silva. Arlovski started using leg kicks, but they were few and far in between to do any real damage to Silva. When you are trying to chop a tree down, you don't chop at the top but instead at the base of the tree and Arlovski should have been kicking the hell out of Silva's legs from the beginning. The commentators last night mentioned that Arlovski was seeing a sports psychologist about his losing streak, I sure hope he got a money back guarantee because he ended up with another loss. I just don't see the fire in Arlovski's eyes that made him one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the world, the killer instinct may be gone for good. I know he has more to offer and look forward to him showing it in the cage, but he needs to find that desire again.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)







Post a Comment