Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum II

[SalvIsWin]

What a horrible strategy by Werdum. Just fall down over, and over, and over again, hoping that Overeem will fight him there. Deserved to lose for having such a horrible gameplan if nothing else. Wedum landed more strikes, but you can't try 15 takedowns and succeed on 2/15 and do nothing with it, and expect to win.

 

[INDYjon22]

I was impressed with Werdum's striking and Overeem not being overzealous with jumping into his guard. I didn't have an issue with the fight as a whole, but neither guy was impressive. I hope the K-1 striker Overeem comes out in his fight with Big Foot. Also, I can't wait for Barnett vs. Kharitonov. That one will be a lot of fun.

 

[jmt225]

Very disappointing show.

That main event was atrocious. If Overeem fights like he did tonight against Big Foot Silva then he will be dominated for 3 straight rounds. Come on, Overeem. Please don't prove your naysayers right. However, I still have faith in him. Tonight he just fought a smart fight, which unfortunately ended up making it a boring fight (though it wasn't his fault). I still believe he's a top 3 best Heavyweight in the World right now.

Barnett looked awesome and I enjoyed his promo, but I was hoping for a little more competitive fight. Barnett vs. Kharitonov should be awesome, though. Can't wait for that one.

And Jorge had the perfect gameplan for Noons, and looked better than ever. Gil will absolutely destroy him, though. Props to Noons also for hanging in there, but he really needs to work on his muay thai/kickboxing if he truly wants to be an elite striker in MMA.

 

[SalvIsWin]

After watching some interviews with Overeem, I've come to the conclusion that he knew he had a clock on Werdum, and if nothing changed in that fight until the final minute was up, he was going to win. Overeem said none of Werdum's punches had much power behind them, and they were simply thrown to try to set-up a takedown. By not committing too much to defending Werdum's weak punches, Overeem channeled more of his energy into not being baited or being taken down, and thus was able to mostly avoid the ground altogether.

Very unimpressed with Werdum. I think any strategy that relies on your opponent doing something specific, especially if that specific thing is to be an idiot, is a bad one. This is exactly what happened with Leites and Anderson Silva. Leites tried to bait Silva, and Silva was having none of it, and the end result was much of the same. It takes two to make an interesting fight. Leites and Werdum both just kept falling to their back, so it's hard for Overeem or Silva to get any momemtum going.

When Overeem fights Bigfoot, I think the fight will be drastically different. Bigfoot will stand with Overeem, and look for the clinch and takedown through that, but I also think Bigfoot will be content to strike a bit. This will let Overeem open up more and I really think Bigfoot loses by TKO. Overeem is a K1 champion, and Werdum is a mediocre striker, so overall I am inclined to give Overeem the benefit of the doubt when he says he simply knew he was in no danger with Werdum's striking, and knew he just needed to use all his energy to stay off the floor.