On the surface Strikeforce, Dallas seems to have left a lot of questions unresolved. Namely, is Overeem deserving of the hype and is Barnett as good as people tend to think he is? Initial reactions trending seem to be that Werdum entered with such a bad strategy that we have no way of knowing how good Overeem really is against elite level MMA fighters. Yet I think we can take more from this fight than many are giving it credit for.
Overeem buckled Werdum on several occassions with high powered punches and knee strikes. Yes, Werdum was attempting to bait Overeem to follow him to the ground but when he was hit by those strikes, especially the knee in the second round, you can see Werdum literally fold in half. Yet it was not worth Overeem following up because of the massive submission risk that Werdum presents. The only time he entered his guard was with ten seconds left of the first and second round, and through large portions of the third round out of frustration at Werdum's ineffective butt-scooting.
The problem is many pundits are now taking this as an indication that Overeem has reached a glass ceiling in his MMA training. Yet looking through previous MMA fights I find that the Silva/Leites fight is analogous. In that fight we had a killer in Silva hurting Leites throughout the fight, yet Leites was so scared of Silva that he flopped to the ground time and time again in an attempt to avoid being hit as well as lure Silva to the ground. Yet despite that fight being atrocious no one then said that Silva was overated. Yet this is what happened in the Overeem/Werdum fight, and it will happen again if Overeem is put against another elite submission artist, just like it happened with Silva/Maia.
One thing we did learn though is that Overeem has to put combinations together. Werdum, by repeatedly tagging him when he stepped into the pocket showed that Overeem cannot rely on landing one big KO strike, especially against those unwilling to stand with him for extended period of time, which lets face it, is going to be 90% of the Heavyweight division. What he needed to do against Werdum is utilise the jab to keep Werdum at bay and then start mixing in straights and hooks, not just rely on keeping his waist bent and then looking to hit an overhand right. We know Overeem is better than that, and it would not take too much to tweek his K-1 game into an MMA game. The Reem can do whatever the hell he wants against the B-Level fighters his last 10 wins before Werdum came against, but he will have to learn how to use the jab in order to keep opponents at bay and ensure the majority of the fight is not spent stopping takedowns, and as a way to set up combinations, just like it is in boxing.
So what about Barnett? I think that his peformance was perfect, and I actually have no criticism, but I would like to address some of the criticism he is facing, namely the time it took him to put Rogers away. Considering Rogers' ground game, or lack of, many felt that given Barnett's ease with which he was able to get mount in the first round he should have finished him there and then. Yet as Barnett said in his post-interviews that wasn't the plan. The plan he had worked out with Erik Paulson was to grapple him, tire him out, use Barnett's heavy hips to wind him and pressure his lungs to set up the submission in the later rounds. It is a game plan that has been widely used in MMA. When Rick Story beat Thiago Alves, their plan was based around tiring Alves out. When GSP beat BJ Penn at UFC 94, GSP's game plan was based around tiring out BJ in the first round by clinching him against the cage and so preventing BJ from stopping the take downs in later rounds. The only difference between those two fights and the Barnett/Rogers fight is the quality of competition. However, just because Rogers isn't equal competition to Barnett doesn't mean that he should drastically alter his game plan. If we look at Lesnar/Velasquez, Lesnar did everything his corner wanted him to do...in the first 30 seconds. His rash nature helped lead him to a TKO loss. If Barnett had come at Rogers looking to put him away as fast as possible, then that could have led to Barnett getting hit or swept, all because of haste. What is obvious is that Barnett adjusted his game plan between rounds. When he realised how easy it was to get mount, he immediately locked in the arm-triangle in the second round. There was too much at stake for Barnett for him to try and finish the fight as quickly as possible. People praise GSP for being clinical, let us extended the same praise to Barnett.
It was also nice to see Barnett use striking to set up the take down in the second round. Though brief, Barnett was able to close the distance on Rogers and once inside secure the take down. I expect him to do the same thing to Kharitonov, paw quickly with the jab, follow it up with a straight right, and then either clinch followed by a trip, or else drop down against the cage, secure the single/double leg, and just proceed to pass from there en-route to a unanimous decision or arm-triangle/kimura submission win.
Monday 20 June 2011
Thursday 16 June 2011
Josh Barnett Confirms Why He Is My Favourite Fighter
Usually an open work out is just another opportunity for the media to take a few shots of fighters hitting mitts or drilling wrestling. This is followed by the normal throng of mediocre questions, such as asking the wrestler what his gameplan is or asking the striker what he feels his biggest strength is.
Except for now.
Not content with beating up his shadow, Josh Barnett instead put on an impromptu pro-wrestling exhibition versus 'The Hammer', featuring eye rakes, chest chops, a back breaker, a clotheslines and a figure-four 'The Natural' would have been proud of. Check the MMA Fighting video for a post-fight promo that would have had The Rock tearing up...http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/06/16/at-strikeforce-workouts-josh-barnett-decides-to-put-on-a-show/
Strikeforce Fight Card: Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum
With the second round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight World Grand Prix taking place this Saturday at the American Airlines Centre in Dallas, Texas, I thought I would take an attempt at handicapping the headline bout.
(Photo courtesy of bjjheroes.com)
Fabrico "Vai Cavalo" Werdum has undergone a renaissance recently starting with his Unanimous Decision win over Antonio "Big Foot" Silva . After weathering a harrowing first round knockdown, Werdum rallied back over two rounds, winning the decision based primarily on a strong clinch game and controlling Silva whenever the fight went to the ground. However it didn't show us anything we didn't know about Werdum already, namely when he hits, he can hit hard and he has a superlative BJJ game. However he was still content to windmill his punches and rely on non-existent head movement in an attempt to dodge punches. His chin saved him from a potential first round (T)KO. Still, he did enough to convice the judges to award the last two rounds and that is what mattered.
The fight that followed against Fedor Emelianenko has been thoroughly dissected for me to be able to largely skip it, save for me to add I believe his win was a result due more to Fedor's laziness than any game planning on Werdum's part. Yes, the fight got to the ground but only as a result of a huge knock down by Fedor. Still, a champion wins by any means and crucially he managed to lock in the armbar/triangle which led to the tap 'seen around the world'. Another (un)important consideration is that for one rare time the MMAth has even worked out. Werdum beat Silva, Werdum beat Fedor, Silva beat Fedor. Therefore Werdum>Silva>Fedor. How neat!
(photo courtesy of watchkalibrun.com).
Alistair 'The Reem' Overeem is enjoying both a 10 fight win streak in MMA as well as winning the K-1 World Grand Prix. That essentially makes him the best striker in (Heavyweight) MMA today. Yet for all this he is still considered by many a somewhat unknown product. His recent MMA wins have all come against strikers, and all of whom were either not very good (Rogers, Hunt, Thompson), should not have been in the ring (Goodridge, Fujita) or were relatively untested themselves (Duffee). However, I would argue that his K-1 win shows that we need not question his striking. So the argument against Overeem centres on his grappling.
Yet even here he is a largely proven article. His early wins came from a mixture of his BJJ game and stand-up and he won the ADCC Euro Championships (2005). He still trains his grappling as evinced by his recent training videos. It is just that we haven not seen it because his striking is so much better. We still know he has a wicked guillotine, but I am betting now his BJJ will have become primarily defensive, allowing him to stall or sweep with a view to standing the fight back up.
So who is the favourite?
I am going to have to go with Overeem and in a huge way here. If Silva and Fedor can knock Werdum down, Overeem will knock him down just by looking at him. Furthermore Overeem will not be silly enough to follow him to the ground and will be content to beckon him to stand time and time again until he is KO'd. Werdum can only win this on the ground and there is no way he is shooting a power double. That means he can only rely on trips from the clinch, and Overeems biggest strength is the clinch game. Just ask Fujita and Buentello. Overeem is too big, too strong and too good to allow such a one dimensional fighter to take the victory.
Fabrico "Vai Cavalo" Werdum has undergone a renaissance recently starting with his Unanimous Decision win over Antonio "Big Foot" Silva . After weathering a harrowing first round knockdown, Werdum rallied back over two rounds, winning the decision based primarily on a strong clinch game and controlling Silva whenever the fight went to the ground. However it didn't show us anything we didn't know about Werdum already, namely when he hits, he can hit hard and he has a superlative BJJ game. However he was still content to windmill his punches and rely on non-existent head movement in an attempt to dodge punches. His chin saved him from a potential first round (T)KO. Still, he did enough to convice the judges to award the last two rounds and that is what mattered.
The fight that followed against Fedor Emelianenko has been thoroughly dissected for me to be able to largely skip it, save for me to add I believe his win was a result due more to Fedor's laziness than any game planning on Werdum's part. Yes, the fight got to the ground but only as a result of a huge knock down by Fedor. Still, a champion wins by any means and crucially he managed to lock in the armbar/triangle which led to the tap 'seen around the world'. Another (un)important consideration is that for one rare time the MMAth has even worked out. Werdum beat Silva, Werdum beat Fedor, Silva beat Fedor. Therefore Werdum>Silva>Fedor. How neat!
(photo courtesy of watchkalibrun.com).
Alistair 'The Reem' Overeem is enjoying both a 10 fight win streak in MMA as well as winning the K-1 World Grand Prix. That essentially makes him the best striker in (Heavyweight) MMA today. Yet for all this he is still considered by many a somewhat unknown product. His recent MMA wins have all come against strikers, and all of whom were either not very good (Rogers, Hunt, Thompson), should not have been in the ring (Goodridge, Fujita) or were relatively untested themselves (Duffee). However, I would argue that his K-1 win shows that we need not question his striking. So the argument against Overeem centres on his grappling.
Yet even here he is a largely proven article. His early wins came from a mixture of his BJJ game and stand-up and he won the ADCC Euro Championships (2005). He still trains his grappling as evinced by his recent training videos. It is just that we haven not seen it because his striking is so much better. We still know he has a wicked guillotine, but I am betting now his BJJ will have become primarily defensive, allowing him to stall or sweep with a view to standing the fight back up.
So who is the favourite?
I am going to have to go with Overeem and in a huge way here. If Silva and Fedor can knock Werdum down, Overeem will knock him down just by looking at him. Furthermore Overeem will not be silly enough to follow him to the ground and will be content to beckon him to stand time and time again until he is KO'd. Werdum can only win this on the ground and there is no way he is shooting a power double. That means he can only rely on trips from the clinch, and Overeems biggest strength is the clinch game. Just ask Fujita and Buentello. Overeem is too big, too strong and too good to allow such a one dimensional fighter to take the victory.
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