Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum Parting Shots

Well, at least it wasn’t a pay-per-view! A strong-looking card gave way to one-sided thrashings and a bizarre main event that left nobody satisfied, except maybe die-hard Alistair Overeem fans who don’t care how he advances (as long as he does). They can’t all be barn-burners, though, and we are at least left with plenty to discuss as the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix moves forward.

Overeem wins a head-scratcher

I was going to write “Overeem squeaks by in a head-scratcher”, but the judges working the event once again proved that their ineptitude knows no bounds, as Kerry Hatley and Cecil Peoples both failed to give the third round to Fabricio Werdum, who earned at least that much.

He didn’t win more than one round because he strangely decided time and time again to go against what was actually working in favor of something that definitely wasn’t. Overeem showed very early on that he wasn’t going to just jump into Werdum’s guard, yet Werdum continually made himself look weak and desperate by flopping to his back on the slightest contact from his opponent nonetheless. The annoying thing about it is that when Werdum did decide to actually fight Overeem, he did just fine and regularly got the better of some of the striking exchanges. Overeem seemed overconfident and wasn’t worried about defending himself against Werdum’s strikes, and he was still more concerned about possible takedown attempts than counter-striking.

It’s not unusual to see a grappler out-strike a better striker when that striker is preoccupied with the constant threat of takedowns: Rick Story out-dueling Thiago Alves and Chael Sonnen landing regularly on Anderson Silva are two good examples. Why Werdum didn’t stick with fighting aggressively instead of giving away two rounds completely is beyond me.

Of course, Overeem ended up gassing out and laying on top of Werdum throughout much of the last half of the fight anyway, and what did Werdum do when that finally happened? Absolutely nothing. Spare a last-second kneebar attempt in the third round, we didn’t see any real submission work from Werdum on the mat Saturday night.

Overeem, meanwhile, landed power shots at a better clip than Werdum but still didn’t look like the overpowering striker that he should be. Furthermore, his apparent lack of conditioning in the late stages of the fight is very troubling. Considering that much of the fight consisted of Overeem swinging and making very little contact, then waiting for Werdum to stand back up, it doesn’t bode well that he was so tired in the third round that he opted to bury his head in Werdum’s belly while laying in the guard. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva was licking his chops, to say the least.

Quick Shots

–Big props go to Jorge Masvidal for a completely dominant performance against KJ Noons. For Noons, the outlook is considerably more bleak, however. For a supposedly elite striker, he gets out-struck a lot, and the way in which it happens is troubling. In the most literal use of the word “striker”, Noons fits the bill. He’s good at throwing strikes. At avoiding them, however? Not so good. He regularly seems to just eat shots, as if he just doesn’t care. His head movement is not as good as you’d expect and his hands are constantly low, to boot. I just don’t see how he gets any higher up the ladder without shoring up his issues and taking his opponents’ striking more seriously. It seems as if he overlooks everybody he faces, as if he’ll automatically dominate the striking, and that hasn’t been the case on a number of occasions now.

–Josh Barnett is looking better and better as a possible winner of the tournament, but don’t forget about his second-round opponent, Sergei Kharitonov, either. Kharitonov is no slouch and looked very good in his dismantling of Andrei Arlovski in the opening part of the grand prix. Still, Barnett has to be happy to finally get back into the action and win a one-sided fight against a dangerous opponent. He may have been a touch methodical for many fans’ tastes, but it was an unqualified success, nonetheless.

By the way, it was pretty funny listening to the commentary team describe Barnett’s catch wrestling as a style where submission attempts come quickly and without regard for maintaining position, all while watching Barnett do the exact opposite of that and methodically maintain his positions while patiently looking for submissions.

Say What?!?

“Whoooaaa! Wait a minute!“- Mauro Ranallo, thinking that Griggs-V. Overeem was stopped prematurely when Overeem actually tapped out quite visibly to end the fight.

Adventures in Judging

You know, people always ask me, “Jon, how can you be sure that there will be sufficient material for ‘Adventures in Judging’ during every major MMA event?” And I say, “my friend, bad judging is one well that never runs dry.” Actually, nobody ever asks me that, but still.

This week, we the afore-mentioned third round of Overeem-Werdum being scored strangely. We also had another great example of judges not using 10-8 rounds, as Nelson Hamilton, Brock Groom and Jesse Reyes all refused to give Jorge Masvidal a deserved 10-8 first round for his thrashing of KJ Noons. You’ll remember that Hamilton also didn’t give Junior dos Santos a deserved 10-8 round against Shane Carwin recently, and he somehow gave all three rounds to Mark Munoz against Demian Maia, so he hasn’t had the greatest month.

The Bob Seger “Beautiful Loser” Award

Nobody was particularly impressive in defeat on Saturday night, but I’ll give this one to Noons both for showing heart and showing flashes of an improving ground game against Masvidal. He defended a couple of takedowns and stood back up, as well. He also showed more of a willingness to work off of his back than before, although he still has a long way to go in all of those departments. Still, Valentijn Overeem rolled over for Chad Griggs, Werdum fought a stupid fight, Rogers wasn’t able to do anything, and Jeff Monson simply took a beating, so who else could I pick for this one?

Movin’ On Up Award

This goes to Masvidal, who has a very bright future as a lightweight under the Zuffa umbrella. I would actually love to see how he and Gilbert Melendez would each fare in the UFC, but I guess we’ll have to see them square off, first.

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Tags: Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers, Chad Griggs, Fabricio Werdum, Jeff Monson, Jorge Masvidal, Josh Barnett, KJ Noons, Mauro Ranallo, Strikeforce, Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, Valentijn Overeem