If Werdum beats Overeem...

[Uncle Chester]

If and I mean if that minuscule chance of Werdum actually getting his hand raised in victory over his fight with Reem is realised:

Would you consider Werdum, having (hypothetically) beaten both the greatest striker and the most well rounded fighter in the world, the best heavyweight in the world?

and


Which fight would mean more to Strikeforce if Werdum won against Reem: Werdum v. Fedor (assuming Fedor wins against Silva) or Fedor v. Overeem? And which of those two fights would YOU rather see?

 

[The American Legend]

That's a really good question. For me, I would say no. More appropriately, not yet. If Werdum beats Overeem, and Fedor beats Silva, I would wait until after Fedor v Werdum 2 to declare him the best. If he does beat Overeem, and then Fedor again, then the Grand Prix, he is the best. I think whoever wins this is the best HW in the world. Even though the non Fedor side of the bracket is weaker.

Strikeforce has to be praying for Fedor v Overeem. While F v W2 would be an intriguing match, F v O has the chance to be a fight for the ages. Not to mention, it would bring in far more viewers. From a fight hype standpoint, Fedor Overeem doesn't need much. People know whats up, and they'll get excited. Fedor Werdum would take a little more work, letting people know its the rematch, which still isn't as exciting as the other option.

Personally, I want to see Fedor v Overeem. But Fedor getting another chance to beat Werdum would be sweet as well. Besides, Overeem can get first dibs at Fedor and the Strikeforce title when the Prix is over

 

[INDYjon22]

I would have to say it would put him in the top 2 Heavyweights in the world at the very least. The only person I could or would put ahead of him would be Cain merely because he is the UFC Heavyweight champion, but there would certainly be an argument for Werdum if he can get past Overeem. As for what fight would be more important for Strikeforce, it would have to be Reem vs. Fedor. That fight has been talked about for years now and has a ton of hype surrounding it. I wouldn't mind seeing Fedor vs. Werdum II but I just don't think it would draw as much attention or have as much of an impact as a fight between Fedor and Reem would.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

I'd say if Werdum does get past Overeem, it would make him the number 2 Heavyweight in the world. Overeem might be one of the best if not the best striker in the world at Heavyweight, but he is still ranked the #6 HW by Sherdog. What hurts Fedor and Reem in the rankings is that they don't get the chance to fight the top ranked guys, because they don't fight in the UFC. Don't get me wrong, I think that Fedor and Reem are definitely two of the best, but in order to get that top ranking you have to fight the top ranked opponents. The only way I would rank Werdum the number one HW, is if he beats Reem, has a rematch with Fedor, and beats him. If he can beat Fedor twice, then I would throw what I said out the window and see him as the top HW.

As for the second question, I think the Fedor/Overeem fight means more to Strikeforce. I would want to see Fedor/Overeem more as well. Point being is that with Fedor/Werdum, what happened in the first 30 seconds? Werdum was caught by a punch that but him on his back, Fedor made the mistake by jumping on him and trying to finish the fight, forgetting the fact that Werdum has the best BJJ in the Heavyweight division in the world and got caught. If Fedor would've let Werdum get up, he would've finished the fight by knocking him out at some point during the fight. With Fedor/Overeem it would do tons better for Strikeforce at the present time, like Jon mentioned it's a fight that has been talked about for a long time, and has a lot more hype around it. The Werdum/Fedor doesn't draw as much interest simply because most people consider it a lucky win for Werdum, because Fedor made the mistake that he did. Sucks to say it because it is the biggest win of Werdum's career so far, but it's kinda the truth.

 

[cantknockrob]

If and I mean if that minuscule chance of Werdum actually getting his hand raised in victory over his fight with Reem is realised:

Would you consider Werdum, having (hypothetically) beaten both the greatest striker and the most well rounded fighter in the world, the best heavyweight in the world?

and


Which fight would mean more to Strikeforce if Werdum won against Reem: Werdum v. Fedor (assuming Fedor wins against Silva) or Fedor v. Overeem? And which of those two fights would YOU rather see?

If Werdum wins the tournament and goes thru both Overeem and Fedor, I think you would have to have him up there as arguably the best HW in the world. I would have him ranked number 2 or 3...Probably 3 as I don't see him getting ranked above Dos Santos because he already knocked him out.

I think the Fedor Overeem fight would be the bigger fight. That would be a great set up for Strikeforces first PPV and would cause more international interest.

 

[jmt225]

I've said it from the get-go, whoever wins this tournament is the best Heavyweight in the World.

I don't care if it's Fedor or Overeem who wins it, or Big Foot Silva or Josh Barnett who wins it... the winner of this tournament, in my eyes, will be the undisputed #1 Heavyweight in the World of Mixed Martial Arts.

However, they have to win the tournament. I don't care if Werdum beats Overeem and then beats Fedor again... if he does that and then loses to someone like Barnett in the finals, then it completely diminishes Werdum's victories in the tournament.

Cain Velasquez, right now, is the #1 Heavyweight in the World and he will remain so no matter what (as long as he's the UFC Heavyweight Champion, of course) until this tournament is concluded. You have to look at combat tournaments as one huge fight. You don't actually win a fight, until you win the whole thing.

 

[Fizzy]

If Werdum beat both Fedor and Reem in this tourny he would be the #1 HW in the world unless he lost in the finals. Like JMT said the winner of this tournament will be the #1 heavyweight in the world. I don't care if it's fucking Andrei Arlovski. He will be the best heavyweight in the world. I might rank Werdum at three if he beats Fedor, and Overeem but loses in the finals only because having Cain lower than two would be stupid of me. Personally though I don't see him beating Overeem, but that is for another thread. Right now Cain is the best heavyweight in the world until the conclusion of this tournament.

 

[Tech N9ne]

It would be very impressive and it would garner Werdum to be in the conversation as the BEST Heavyweight in the world. But, even though Werdum's accomplishments would be awesome, I would still consider Cain Velasquez to be the BEST Heavyweight in the world.

Taking nothing away from Werdum, though. He would deserve a lot of credit and respect. But, Velasquez has impressive victories over some of the best this sport has to offer as well. Velasquez is undefeated and has basically demolished his opponents.

The main reason I would rank Velasquez ahead of Werdum, is I believe Cain would beat him one on one and pretty convincingly.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

I've said it from the get-go, whoever wins this tournament is the best Heavyweight in the World.

I don't care if it's Fedor or Overeem who wins it, or Big Foot Silva or Josh Barnett who wins it... the winner of this tournament, in my eyes, will be the undisputed #1 Heavyweight in the World of Mixed Martial Arts.

However, they have to win the tournament. I don't care if Werdum beats Overeem and then beats Fedor again... if he does that and then loses to someone like Barnett in the finals, then it completely diminishes Werdum's victories in the tournament.

Cain Velasquez, right now, is the #1 Heavyweight in the World and he will remain so no matter what (as long as he's the UFC Heavyweight Champion, of course) until this tournament is concluded. You have to look at combat tournaments as one huge fight. You don't actually win a fight, until you win the whole thing.

Really? Because I think this is a pretty easy tournament to call. Especially with Fedor out. Arlovski getting knocked the fuck out was the surest bet in all of sports history. Anybody that picked Arlovski to win that fight was smoking some really good stuff. Barnett ought to steam roll past Rogers, too.

People might not believe me, but I had Silva beating Fedor. I wanted to Fedor to win, but I pretty much knew that Silva would take that fight. Fedor doesn't have the greatest stand-up in the world and, if you game-plan properly, i.e. avoid the overhand right, you can be effective against Fedor in the stand-up department. Bigfoot is 285 lbs of a BJJ Black Belt and some solid striking. It was only a matter of time before one of these behemoths that Fedor was fighting would have the all-around skillset to beat Fedor down.

I'm not knocking Fedor in ANY way, but normally these giants that he fights have a glaring deficiency that allowed Fedor, who by all rights necessary is a LHW fighting at HW, to pick up the W based on superior skills. Silva was a bad match-up for Fedor because of his sheer size coupled with those abilities. I mean, he practically ragged dolled and laughed at Fedor's two legitimate submission attempts.

I don't think this tournament answers any questions about the HW division due to the way StrikeForce set it up. They loaded the left side of the bracket and basically gave Barnett and Kharitonov a pass to the semis. They gave Overeem a fight that, even though he has lost to Werdum before, the knowledge from that fight and the massive improvements that Overeem has made, on paper, he should win fairly easily. Werdum hasn't really grown much as an MMA fighter, whereas Overeem keeps taking different steps to improve his game. The last time Werdum faced a fighter with Overeem's power and striking skills, he got his block knocked off.

Personally, I think this Grand Prix is a novelty item more than a true statement about the HW rankings. I don't care who wins this tournament, I'm not going to rank them above Cain Velasquez or Junior Dos Santos.

What's the point? After this tournament is over, the winner will, literally, have no competition left to face to keep that ranking.