Reem & Dum (fight, boxing, effective, blocks)

[slackjaw]

Pretty ****ty fight, with Werdum doing his best Thales Leites imitation (I'm on my butt come get me!) and Overeem playing it pretty passively. I thought Werdum was actually holding his own in the stand-up, he might have won a decision in that fight if he hadn't been so determined to give up position to be on his back.

Interesting = Overeem did indeed tire out, which isn't surprising those muscles have to be expensive to feed. If he gasses against Cain Velasquez, who will be coming like a buzzsaw no matter what the round is, he's got big problems.

[rigas]

what amazes me is werdum is arguably the best bjj guy in all heavy divisions, and reem had absolutely ZERO issue getting up. i have to say barnett looked pretty good for a guy who hasnt in in a fight in what 2 years? i think barnett has as good a chance as anyone to be top dog.

cains biggest issue with a guy like reem, his aggressiveness. that is what reem feeds on, his striking is second to none, and he is mostly a counter puncher. the reason werdum looked so good is because he didnt care if he got knocked down, he wanted to be there so he swung with wild abandon and every time he did got some striking going, reem would put a stop to that with one or two solid shots.

i like barnetts chances provided he doesnt get busted for roids again. i have said for 5 years, barnett is/could be the best heavy out there. did you see him rock the much outmatched rogers? one shot just about put him on the ground and everyone expected rogers to own the stand up.

i was also really impressed with griggs and the fact that little reem tapped to strikes, i mean really?

[slackjaw]

Originally Posted by rigas

i like barnetts chances provided he doesnt get busted for roids again.

I do too, he's got a really well-rounded game, can take the fight whereever he needs.

[redfish1]

Barnett and Sergei should be interesting but I like Sergei in a decision after Barnett slows down. I think Silva pounds out a gassed reem. both fights will come down to conditioning IMO.

I think it's Sergei vs Big Foot in the championship and big foot wins a unanimous decision as Sergei is outclassed in the stand up and unable to get anything going on the ground.

you heard it here first...........lol

[Lital_The_Best]

Everyone is giving Werdum credit with his stand up. Sure, he has improved but what people fail to notice is that his strikes were just more glancing blows and didn't connect that much. Whatever shots he happened to land, Overeem landed more efficiently and with more damage. Everyone keeps saying Werdum owned the stand up but Overeem was just being square and kind of deflecting those shots but without trying to seem pretentious or like a know it all; I guess to the untrained eye or for anyone who doesn't know much about kickboxing; it looked like Werdum outclassed him.

Overeem, in my opinion bullied and embarrassed Werdum and had zero issues getting up from his guard. He defended really well and was like in zero trouble on the ground. Overeem, could have really finished Werdum much faster if he wanted but he was just being stupid. I don't think Werdum would have gotten Overeem down if he wanted to in the 1st round. Overeem should have also kicked those legs when Werdum was on his ass but who am I to say.

Overall, the fight was terrible and I was pissed off at Overeem because I was telling my non knowledgeable MMA friends what a great fighter he is (and still is) and he put on a performance like that and of course my friends completely just wrote him off and the sport of MMA all together.

As for the rest of the card; it was pretty good but not the typical awesome memorable card Strikeforce puts on. I wasn't surprised at Valenjtine Overeem losing to strikes. I don't know why anyone is even surprised. If they know anything about the guy is that he's a mental midget, even more so than his younger brother. If he's not winning from the get go, he's not winning period.

Jorge Masvidal looked amazing against Noons and I have to say I didn't expect him to dominate Noons the way he did. Great counter striking, great take downs, great ground work. Just completely outworked and put a hurting on Noons. Didn't say the win coming like that. I think Jorge Masvidal is one of those sleeper guys. He wins when you least expect it and he'll be a stiff test for anyone trying to get a title. That being said I see him as a gate keeper at best but probably will get a title shot down the road.

Josh Barnett did what he had to do against Brett Rogers and showed why he is the man. Don't know why anyone would be surprised about that. If you've followed Josh's career, you know he's very talented and is a great fighter in all areas. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he wins the tournament. Heck, I am rooting for him and Thunderhorse the most.

I see the GP being Barnett and Thunderhorse or Big Foot. I can see Josh Barnett having a good exciting fight with Sergei but taking him to the ground and working him there. Not that Sergei is a slouch on the ground but I don't think he would be able to out smart Josh, Josh is too crafty on the ground. I think Josh Barnett will win a decision against Sergei.

Overeem vs Giant Silva will be interesting. I think a lot of people are completely writing Overeem off and discrediting him. Everyone probably thinks Silva is going to destroy him and run right through him. I think even Bigfoot feels he can destroy Thunderhorse and is probably going to come out more aggressive than he ever has and try to knock overeem out.

Bigfoot is very light on his feet and agile for a guy his size. However, I just don't see him running through Overeem like everyone predicts him too and if it goes to the ground, I don't see him doing much there either. He's a black belt in BJJ but he's just not the same black belt in BJJ like Werdum is. He's best chance is ground and pounding Overeem. He's stronger than Werdum and can certainly get it there but Overeem isn't a weakling and isn't no Fedor whom Bigfoot is just going to bully around and he'll probably get tired trying to attempt it and having it be stuffed.

If Overeem doesn't get careless or respect Bigfoot too much, I see him winning TKO over Silva if Silva comes out with aggressive striking, which Overeem doesn't have an issue with. On TOP of all this, everyone is either a noob to MMA or just have forgotten that Overeem DOES in fact have a great, great ground game and won fights with submissions before. So who knows what Overeem can pull out his hat. In my opinion, sometimes Thunderhorse is his own worst enemy, and if he doesn't get discouraged under fire, I think he can win this GP.

Regardless of what happens, I hope the next GP comes SOON and is much more fun than the previous show!!

[slackjaw]

Fight metric here: FightMetric: Overeem vs. Werdum II Official FightMetric Statistics

Given Overeem is one of the most feared strikers in MMA and Werdum is a ground specialist, dude deserves some credit for his standup in that fight.

[rigas]

looking over the metric it says

Note: Overeem is not credited with successful takedowns because a takedown requires that the attempting fighter establish a ground-based advantageous position.

i dont agree with this, there where at least 2 takedowns or trips by reem. either rate them as take downs or knock downs but at least 2 times reem put werdum on the floor not of his own will. (i know once he caught his kick and kicked his leg out from under him)

gonna rewatch the fight here shortly i think.
i think you kinda have to take fight metric with somewhat of a grain of salt. i mean you, me, or joe ******* can work for fight metric counting punches and trying to decide what a "power" punch is.

(lmao city data now blocks out sch mu ck HA)

[slackjaw]

*******

I'll be damned, it does.

*******
Putz

[rigas]

you know i was thinking about

Note: Overeem is not credited with successful takedowns because a takedown requires that the attempting fighter establish a ground-based advantageous position.

more, and technically the guard position an advantageous position for the person holding guard not inside it. so by fight metric "rules" every time someone takes down, i mean falls into another persons guard by their own power they should not be awarded a take down. thanks to guys like tito, people have forgotten that the guard is supposed to be a more dominant position for the person hold it. helio gracie would be rolling over in his grave right about now. then again, every time reem punched werdum and werdum fell down with reem in his butterfly guard, shouldnt that be considered a takedown for reem? i mean he is the one who put his opponent on the ground and landed in a position they would consider advantageous? ok im getting a head ache!

[Jason28]

Fight was mostly boring. Butt scooting 101 by the BJJ guy. No surprise there. The ref should've taken a point from Werdum after his 18th attempt at lamely falling to the ground and stall tactic where he just layed there breathing.

Overeem needs to fix his cardio if he plans on hanging with Cain. It remains to be seen if Cain is as effective as he used to be after his shoulder surgery. It could be career changing for him if he isn't what he used to be.