UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Arlovski - May 8th

[jimufctna24]

 rooted for him against that bell-end Rampage too.

Several of us in the MMA threads have mentioned this in the past. How Rampage got cheered against Rashad is truly baffling. 

[herbie747]

 

 rooted for him against that bell-end Rampage too.

Several of us in the MMA threads have mentioned this in the past. How Rampage got cheered against Rashad is truly baffling. 

 

No idea either - the was a total cock & a bully on TUF. Literally the definition of a bully - it was disgusting. I absolutely hated Rampage after TUF, and everything he's done since has just validated that.

[ElCece]

 

 

rooted for him against that bell-end Rampage too.

 

Several of us in the MMA threads have mentioned this in the past. How Rampage got cheered against Rashad is truly baffling.

No idea either - the was a total cock & a bully on TUF. Literally the definition of a bully - it was disgusting. I absolutely hated Rampage after TUF, and everything he's done since has just validated that.

 

I couldnt fucking stand him on TUF. Its the only fight ive favoured Rashad in. I still get great pressure from watching Shoguns soccer kick KO

[wandshogun09]

I still get great pressure from watching Shoguns soccer kick KO

Marvellous, isn't it?

 

 

Sorry...

 

 

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!

[ElCece]

Its fantastic. Not normally the type of KO i would get great pleasure from but i think its the people involved. I will be keeping that for the next time I'm needing cheered up

[wandshogun09]

Sunday May 8th is next up in the Fight Night calendar. It could be Rotterdam or anywhere...

 

 

FOX SPORTS 1 MAIN CARD

Alistair Overeem vs Andrei Arlovski

Bigfoot Silva vs Stefan Struve

Gunnar Nelson vs Albert Tumenov

Germaine de Randamie vs Anna Elmose

Nikita Krylov vs Francimar Barroso

Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Heather Jo Clark

 

FOX SPORTS 1 PRELIMS

Rustam Khabilov vs Chris Wade

Magnus Cedenblad vs Garreth McLellan

Nick Hein vs Jon Tuck

Yan Cabral vs Reza Madadi

 

FIGHT PASS PRELIMS

Kyoji Horiguchi vs Neil Seery

Leon Edwards vs Dominic Waters

Paddy Holohan vs Willie Gates

 

Yes, this is the UFC's debut show in the Netherlands. Decent card, nothing earth shattering. Don't know if that bout order's right, I'm going off MMA Junkie's listings but I'll edit this post accordingly should the lineup change.

 

 

Overeem vs Arlovski tops this one. An all European main event with the Dutchman Overeem fittingly headlining the debut show in his home country. Surely this is ending in a first round KO. Surely. Two big heavyweights with big power, accurate striking technique and suspect chins. I don't want to jinx it but I can't see how this fight doesn't end in a KO. I'd be very surprised if it went 25 minutes, that's for sure.

 

 

An interesting twist to this one is that these guys are actually teammates at Greg Jackson's gym. I don't know how that's worked here as far as their training camps went. Or how it's going to work with who corners who on the night. I'm assuming Jackson is going to remain neutral and not corner either guy.

 

As far as I know they're not really close friends but they have trained together a fair bit. In fact, Arlovski once commented that Overeem could be a bit reckless in the gym when it comes to injuring his training partners. I think Overeem hurt Arlovski's ribs or something during Arlovski's camp for the Bigfoot fight.

 

 

Who the fuck knows with this one? Both are extremely dangerous but they've also shown vulnerability. It's not like either of these guys are known for their durability like a Roy Nelson or Mark Hunt. Overeem is the more decorated overall striker, having won the K-1 Grand Prix. He's definitely the better kicker and knee-er. But I'd give Andrei the boxing and speed edge and speed could be crucial in a fight like this where it could be just a case of whoever lands first.

 

 

Bigfoot vs Struve should be exciting. Again, another fight I wouldn't expect to go too long. You never know though. Both have shown insane toughness in the past. Bigfoot looks about done these days though so I'm fancying Struve for the win in his backyard in this one.

 

 

I'm going to add a thing to these event previews called ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH*** which will basically just be me highlighting the fight on the card, besides the main and co-main, that I'm most interested in. On this card that is undoubtedly Nelson vs Tumenov. What a fuck of a fight this is! And a fascinating clash of styles. They're actually quite similar in the ice cold stoic way they carry themselves. But in the cage they're very different. Gunnar's a grappling whizz, despite Maia showing him up in his last fight, it's Demian Maia, he can do that to probably 98% of the world's population. Gunnar's a BJJ phenom with a bit of a Machida-like striking style. Whereas Tumenov will just walk you down and smash you up with his boxing. He can do more than punch, but his hands are his main weapon. Should be a brilliant clash this one.

 

 

No, I didn't accidentally post a picture from the wrong tab. She is actually a fighter.

 

 

Karolina Kowalkiewicz returns. An undefeated Polish strawweight not named Joanna Jedrzejczyk. We could potentially be seeing an all Polish title fight in the near future. She beat Randa Markos in her UFC debut. She's fighting another TUF 20 contestant here in Heather Jo Clark. Bit of a weird piece of matchmaking really. Clark is definitely a step back after beating Markos.

 

 

Everyone's favourite tea obsessive Paddy Holohan is back in the cage to fight Willie Gates. I love Hooligan Holohan. Great personality, funny character and an exciting fighter to watch. Hope he wins here and gets back on track. His fight with Louis Smolka in Dublin last year was fantastic, one of my favourite fights of 2015, actually. Definitely one of the best flyweight fights there's been. But it was still a loss for Holohan. Hope to see him back in the win column here.

 

Not that arsed about anything else. Cabral vs Madadi should be worth keeping an eye on. And I really like Horiguchi. That's about it.

 

[Paul2j]

Jackson is cornering Arlovski for the Overeem fight - which could be pivotal.

[d-d-d-dAz]

'It's Demian Maia, he can do that to about 98% of the worlds population'

 

Wand, are you saying there's about 142 million people who he couldn't do that to?

[jimufctna24]

I think Overeem beats Arlovski. It's probably going to be a case of who lands first. However, based on previous results, I think it's more likely that Overeem will prevail.

 

As we've alluded to in the past in these threads, Arlovski's comeback has mostly been smoke and mirrors. He beat a washed up Big Foot (Frank Mir did exactly the same), he struggled against Schuab (most had him losing the decision), and was polished off by Miocic quite handily. His win over Browne was impressive, but it could have easily gone the other way that night.

 

Overeem has looked solid in his previous 3 fights. Other than a brief flurry in the 3rd, he dominated Nelson.  He also polished off Struve, and beat JDS quite handily (although to be fair, JDS did look terrible). 

 

Things look good for Overeem. Although, I want Arlovski to win. 

[ColinBollocks]

Purely on form and ability, I'd feel quite safe picking Overeem, but this training partner thing adds a different element into the fight. It worked in Arlovski's favour in the Browne fight. I hope Overeem wins because the division needs him to.

[wandshogun09]

'It's Demian Maia, he can do that to about 98% of the worlds population'

 

Wand, are you saying there's about 142 million people who he couldn't do that to?

Good point. Carol Vorderman, I ain't.

[Egg Shen]

I can't see anything other than an Overeem KO in the main event, he's hitting a run of form and Arlovski's egg got scrambled again last time out, i think it'll be a cautious who lands first type of job but i see Overeem winning.

 

Bigfoot/Struve is a bit of a sad one. It feels like one of those fights between named guys just being rolled out to appeal to a new market. Being heavyweights both guys still have ways to win but they just seem shells of their former selves. It could be painful to watch.

 

Good shout wand. on the Nelson/Tumenov fight being the one to watch. That's gonna be a doozy.

[David]

Hopefully an Overeem wins puts him in line for a title shot. It's about time we saw him either win the title or get to fuck.

[lambyUK]

Overeem should be in line for a title shot right now considering his last performance. Despite me feeling confident in an Overeem win, it's a risky fight to take. It was a bizarre booking too considering Arlovski is coming off a loss. You don't normally see someone near to the top of the rankings, who's seemingly near or next in line, take on a fighter coming off a loss.

 

Hat's off to Overeem really as he probably could have sat out waiting on the winner of Werdum/Miocic, and could have quite easily made it a stipulation when he recently signed his new deal. 

[wandshogun09]

Bigfoot/Struve is a bit of a sad one. It feels like one of those fights between named guys just being rolled out to appeal to a new market. Being heavyweights both guys still have ways to win but they just seem shells of their former selves. It could be painful to watch.

Struve's a weird one. I wouldn't write him off just yet, although I don't see him ever getting over that hump and becoming genuinely top level. He lost his last fight but he was basically just smothered by Nytol Rosholt, who did the absolute bare minimum to just contain him for 15 minutes. That doesn't bode well for Struve against the wrestlers of the division but I always struggled to see how Struve would cope with Rosholt's takedowns. Saying that, we can't base much on Struve's agonisingly depressing win over Shot Nog either. His striking offence looked good that night but Nog was so far gone he was basically a punch bag. Struve just had free reign to tee off. Fuck, I'd probably look like prime Buakaw against that Nogueira. And Struve still couldn't finish him so...maybe you're right. I think he's still probably finding his feet after all that shit with his heart issues, the layoffs, his dad dying etc though. I reckon there's still some good fights in Struve in the middle of the pack at heavyweight. And he hasn't taken as much damage in recent fights as he was earlier in his career.

 

Bigfoot's fucked though. Heavyweights such an odd division that he could still win this fight, and Struve's not known for KO power really so that could benefit Bigfoot maybe. But he's looked so awful and lifeless in there over his last few fights, I'm liking Struve's chances. Bigfoot should probably go grapple mode, I think. He could outstrength Struve all day and it'd protect his shot chin and minimise Struve's opportunities to catch him with something. But I can see him going in there to slug and getting picked apart.