Strikeforce thoughts

Didnt think the event was very good...actually one of their weakest cards. I give it 6.

The highlight for me was Josh Barnett. I don't care what anybody says...Josh Barnett is awesome. He looked a tad out of shape tonight, but i might consider making him my frontrunner in this tourny...especially if Reem might have a conditioning problem.

Overeem vs. Werdum= shit...both fighters are much better than that. In a struggle to lure eachother into playing "their games" they ended up just having a shitty fight to the delight of nobody. Overeem was just headhunting..he was not putting together the combos that we seen in K-1..just loading up looking to land the big one and he was not agressive. He was too worried about possibility of Werdum playing possum, but he had Werdum hurt a couple times and didnt try to finish because of what happened in Werdum-Fedor or perhaps what happened to him in 2006. LA had it right..just a bizzare fight. I don't think we learned dick from it except Overeem and Werdum should never fight eachother again.

To tell you the truth, their fight in PRIDE was much better and both fighters looked to be their uber versions then compared to now.

I will give Werdum credit for his improved striking but Overeem was a bit Undereemed in his performance. He was tired, he was rattled by Werdum's strategy, and his striking approach was more like Brett Rogers than what we've come to expect from Overeem. If tonight was not an aberration, Bigfoot will murder him...but i think Overeem will bounce back with an uber performance against the Foot...and Antonio Silva's not gonna Thales it up like Werdum...most HW would NOT do that so i don't think this fight was very telling on where Overeem stands against the others IMO. I think it was just a shit matchup that ended up dragging both fighters down big time.

Barnett-Rogers was as expected. Barnett was a bit out of shape, but it's been awhile since his last real fight. I think he would have been able to punish Brett more on most nights. Rogers vs. del Rosario next. Barnett will beat Sergei, but you never know with Sergei's hands and he's more well rounded than Rogers so he would not be completely worthless against Barnett.

Masvidal was superb. Noons in the real deal with striking but Masvidal was a little quicker, and a bit more dynamic with knees and kicks. When Masvidal established the takedown that was it for Noons. Big win for Masvidal, huge loss for Noons. Masvidal is an extremely talented fighter but Gilbert is gonna kick his ass if they fight.

Solid performance by Cormier. His striking is vastly improved though his power might be lacking. I remember his first MMA fight his striking was embarassing and Vasquez forbid him from throwing low kicks..now this guy is throwing several high kicks and putting together combos..and of course the wrestling is there if he needs it. Cormier is going to have a good MMA career and he'll see some big fights...especially if he moves down to 205..but i think Cormier could probably beat some good HW as well. He dominated one tonight.

I like Chad Griggs...he's gonna fight somebody one day and get his shit kicked but he's established that he is atleast a lower middle of the pack fight. That takedown on Othereem was pretty impressive.

Missed the prelims...JZ-Wilcox having a winner may have changed the #1 contender thing for the better but by what i heard Wilcox was winning the fight.

Excellent as always bro, one thing that worries me about Reem is him gassing today without really exerting himself that much. Reem vs Foot will pretty much tell us everything we want to know about him. Hope he takes Foot's Easter Island head off to be honest.


Josh "The Warmaster" Barnett, glad to have you back.

Reem basically says he was thrown off here

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/06/19/alistair-overeem-victorious-but-frustrated-by-fabricio-werdums/

He had to have been..i mean, he looked like he was completely thrown off in his facial expessions and he never let go with his striking...and maybe he was smart not to. Werdum eitheir had something up his sleeve or he didnt, but he did a great job making Overeem think he had something up his sleeve to where Overeem was completely rattled by him.

Anyway, Overeem vs. Bigfoot will be very interesting. Overeem will be better in his strikes but Bigfoot is a good counter puncher and Overeem still might have his infamous chin going by tonight...also, i'm not totally sure Overeem will be able to shrug off a bigfoot takedown attempt so easily, and Bigfoot has shown to be able to smother and lay down some brutal GnP. It will be an interesting fight and we'll find out what Overeem is made of against a guy that will come to play the whole game.

Rogers vs del Rosrio could depend on Shane's recovery from the accident. How about Rogers vs Griggs?

I think Big foot beats Reem's ass. Werdum kind of looked like the bigger guy out there. Not more muscle, but just the naturally bigger guy. reem kind of looked like a blown up lhw. I think Silva bullies him around the cage.

I didn't think the fight was all that bad either. i thought Werdum was dishing it out pretty good in the standup. But of coarse the constant fall downs were weak. and even when Werdum had reem in his gaurd, he didn't really do much.


Josh got the finish. I wasn't overly impressed, but at least he's active and winning here in the states. I like Grim, Im a fan, but if these guys are not his clear superior in terms of talent, they clearly are in terms of experience. Time to take a step back from the elite level guys. Grim vs Griggs?

Othereem is ubersoft. I put little into that win by Griggs. But again, its a win via stoppage, can't take that away.

Masvidal looked good. a little too cautious perhaps. but Noons is tough, and dangerous. Jorge's reach will give guys problems. But how will his wrestling, which has been a key in recent fights, stack up against better quality wrestlers?

Cormier looked pretty good. But Monson was a tailered made opponent. Not a known striker, had little chance of implementing his submission game, and was equally short and short armed as Cormier. The broadcast team talked about it plenty, Cormier should drop to 205.

Time for Rogers to leave Ambition MMA and move to a real camp.

Primetyme199 wrote:

Time for Rogers to leave Ambition MMA and move to a real camp.

no doubt. this became obvious in the reem fight. He was totally unprepared for the strength of Reem because he doesn't train with anyone near his size. and then the villareal fight.

I still think he has some potential, he's big, he punches hard, and he's still young, but he is still so raw, and that is inexcusable when you've been on the big stage for this long.

a move to grudge would do him good.

captain organic wrote:

Primetyme199 wrote:

Time for Rogers to leave Ambition MMA and move to a real camp.

no doubt. this became obvious in the reem fight. He was totally unprepared for the strength of Reem because he doesn't train with anyone near his size. and then the villareal fight.

I still think he has some potential, he's big, he punches hard, and he's still young, but he is still so raw, and that is inexcusable when you've been on the big stage for this long.

agree on all counts, he has just seemed lost the last couple of fights

Cormier vs Werdum?

Being lost can be fixed, I hope he does go somewhere else.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Cormier vs Werdum?

If fedor beats hendo, i think Fedor vs werdum is a must.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Cormier vs Werdum?

Cormier vs Rogers I have a feeling, easy win for Cormier.

Cormier would be better off in the UFC right now, where there's a bunch of guys on similar paths or just more quality matchups for him.

captain organic wrote:

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Cormier vs Werdum?

If fedor beats hendo, i think Fedor vs werdum is a must.

Another fight where Werdum tries to flop down every time a power shot is thrown in hopes that someone walks into his guard? Well, I guess Fedor has already done it once, so why not