Starts this weekend: Fedor Emelianenko Antonio Silva Alistair Overeem Fabricio Werdum Andrei Arlovski Sergei Kharitonov Josh Barnett Brett Rogers I see Overeem and possibly Brett Rogers in the final. I dont see Fedor beating the Big Foot, unless the Hail Mary right comes into play. But I think itll be like Fedor/Rogers, where Fedor took a beating, was taken down and eventually Fedor let one rip at the last minute. I would like to see Arlovski beat Kharitonov and I honestly dont see Barnett beating Rogers, if he does then itll be via a submission out of nowhere. So I think Round 2 will look like this: [*] Antonio Silva [*] Alistair Overeem ----------------------- [*] Andrei Arlovski [*] Brett Rogers rest of the card is this 265 lbs.: Shane del Rosario (248) vs. Lavar Johnson (243) 265 lbs.: Valentijn Overeem (239) vs. Ray Sefo (249) 265 lbs.: Chad Griggs (229) vs. Gian Villante (227) 155 lbs.: John Cholish (155.75) vs. Marc Stevens (156.5) 145 lbs.: Josh LaBerge (145.75) vs. Anthony Leone (146.2) 145 lbs.: Jason McLean (145.5) vs. Kevin Roddy (145.75) 170 lbs.: Igor Gracie (170.75) vs. John Salgado (170) 170 lbs.: Don Carlo-Clauss (170.4) vs. Sam Oropeza (169.75) Thoughts?
I've written two articles for Sportsnickel on the first round of the GP. Shameless plug is shameless: http://sportsnickel.com/blog/2011/01/20/strikeforce-heavyweight-grand-prix-the-main-bracket/ http://sportsnickel.com/blog/2011/01/27/the-strikeforce-heavyweight-grand-prix-the-reserve-fights/
If you're in the UK heres how to watch it: http://www.primetimelive.co.uk/ Don't use illegal streams, support MMA. £25 for four events is a very good price afterall.
'shroom...I don't think you are giving Barnett enough credit. He definately has the skills to beat Rogers and probably others too. His catch wrestling is pretty good as I understand it. After the loss to Werdum I can see Fedor taking scalps here.
Well Barnett very nearly submitted Big Nog, so yeah its pretty good His stand up is very solid as well, Bretts got a punchers chance but really I think Josh is likely to beat him with ease. I think Kharitodov is the dark horse in this. He's tough as nails, solid in all areas and has genuine KO power. I can't pick who'll be in the final though, Fedor, Overeem or Werdum against Kharitodov or Barnett....about as specific as I can be lol
Spoiler Fall of the Last Emperor... Werdum put Fedor in the ground and now Silva has nailed his coffin. Perhaps I'm being a little overdramatic but even Fedor is publicly contemplating retirement. Never a good sign for someone hungry enough to come back. Kharitanov has now proven the Andrei Arvoloski needs a new job. Sniff Sniff. I can't believe this happening. Dana White has yet again won.... Nooooooo! Fedor the fish he couldn't catch has finally been skewered. Andrei Arvoloski was one of the few winning fighters to willingly leave Zuffa owned UFC and has been on a slump that makes everyone forget he was once rated as high as #3 consensus. Damn it. Fedor's mystique I can live w/out but Arvoloski was one of my favorite HW's. I miss his fangs. Oh well nothing good lasts forever. Griggs, Thank You for keeping the underdog dreams alive. Valentin Overeem thank you for proving you still got it, I hope one day you can be more than a journeyman. Shane Del Rosario, I honestly don't know who you are but I do now maybe I'll actually get a chance to watch you fight one day, Congrats on your victory.
I do like Josh Barnett, good hands and excellent catch wrestler and is on a winning streak, but Brett is a biiig nasty piece of work..short of Barnett getting it into the 3rd round to do in the cardio and pulling in a submission. Otherwise I think itll be GnP by Rogers. (I havent watched the event yet, will do on Monday - due to work commitments)
This is a video of the weigh-in: http://shrt.fm/ifo00P Fedor looks out of shape but he always looks like that. I would love to see him win.
I am a big Barnett fan and would love to see him pull this one off - but I can't shake the feeling that Overeem will be standing tall
Ok Ok I know its opinion and opinion can't really be disputed. People just got different opinions but damn I just don't care about Barnett. Dude doesn't care enough about the sport all the excuses he puts out for why he hasn't competed at a high lever are really more to convince himself than the fans. Dude just needs to do some Japanese Wrestling.
UFC champion, Pride tournament finalist, how much higher do you want him to go? Barnett was simply a casualty of the collapse of Pride. He'd been one of their top order fighters, and then suddenly the UFC owned his contract but didn't want him. He's fought in Sengoku and Dream since he was eventually released from his contract, he fought for Affliction, but it wasn't until the blossoming of Strikeforce in the last year that there's really been a good option for fighters blacklisted by the UFC.
I think Barnett will handle Rogers easily, Rogers simply doesn't have the skillset to handle Barnett. Barnett's got the tools and experience to hang with Rogers standing until he can get the take down, whereas Rogers simply daren't go to ground with Barnett. Also,remember we haven't seen Barnett in a big MMA fight for a while, his grappling appears to have gotten even better, and he's been doing a lot of Savate. I see a quick sub after some ground and pound. Overeem Vs Werdum is perhaps the most interesting matchup of the whole tournament. Werdum certianly has exceptional BJJ skills, but honestly you have to think he's only here because of the Fedor fight.The Fedor fight showed quick BJJ skills and a slick submission, but you have to say that Fedor messed up, probably because he hadn't been involved in a ground war for quite some time, and his last 3 fights had been fairly quick. Overeem is a man potentially on the cusp of greatness. Despite Dana White's derision Overeem's performance at the K1 world Grand Prix was truly devastating, and shows that he is the thing the UFC lacks, a truly world class striker. As well as his Muay Thai credentials, his catch wrestling skills are very solid, and he's actually got more wins by submission than he has by knockout. Coupled to this is his astonishing physique and his massive experience. Again, despite Dana's statement that Overeem is not an MMA fighter, he has had 46 fights! Of which only 4 have gone the distance. Overeem has actually won more fights than Fedor, and he's certainly stopped more. The interesting thing with Overeem is again, despite him being perceived as a standup guy, he's been in with many brazilians and only tapped once to a technical submission. However, that man was Werdum, so as I say, a hugely interesting match.
The Reem vs. Werdum is easily the most interesting fight. While Overeem has great Jitz I think he better keep this standing up. Werdum has improved his striking but it is still not his strong suit especially against Reem. Everyone knows Werdum is a wizard on the ground. Well rounded or not Reem's best chances are stand up and Werdum hasn't shown the ability to takedown guys who are elite fighters.
This is very true but theres one more factor - conditioning. Overeem hasn't fought a long MMA fight in......awhile! He's often faded in later rounds, although that may have been a problem at LHW more than at HW. Werdum on the other hand has usually looked in great shape. If he can survive the initial onslaught I think he's definitely capable of getting a sub if Overeem tires. His JJ is possibly the best in the world at HW. Great fight!
I was really dissapointed with Fedor yesterday. He fought bravely and showed the heart of a lion, but the guy refuses to adapt. He loses to a BJJ practicioner and he doesn't want to learn BJJ. He fights another big BJJ practicioner, and doesn't train against BJJ practicioners for the upcoming fight. He has always been well rounded, but haymakers and not crosstraining can only work to a certain point. It is sad to see such a talent stagnate.
It's hard to make any judgements about his training because the weight disparity was so huge. Given the sudden rise in the number of freakishly huge fighters you've got to ask if they should be thinking about a 255 division. When the guy mounted on you is 40lbs+ heavier than you and knows what he's doing, there's only so far good hips can take you.
That is true, but did we once see Fedor trying to shrimp out of half guard? One thing is if he tried but failed, but it did not even seem like Fedor knew what shrimping was.
You don't suddenly start using techniques you've never relied on from one fight to another, especially when you're in a bad situation. For the record I saw a big change in the way he moves. He's using more or less the same techniques but he was a lot more energetic and a lot quicker to switch from attack to retreat than I've ever seen. And just a note, I'm not sure exactly how much you're paying attention to his timing and angling, but there's a lot more going on than what most people would -negatively at least- call haymakers. Sambists tend to use big reaching shots like that, and they're dangerous with them as Fedor and many others have proven on many occasions. It's a byproduct of being the biggest grappling-heavy jacketed art with striking out there. Striking and gripfighting are usually very hard to tell apart.
Fedor fought hard but I am disappointed in him. Will that be his last fight? That is what it kinda sounding like in his post fight interview. Fedor post fight interview Video
