Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum
9. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum (Heavyweight Grand Prix Quarterfinal bout): Alistair Overeem defeated Fabricio Werdum via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
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Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum – 9. Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum
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Werdum threw lots of sloppy strikes in an attempt to get in close and get the fight to the ground. Overeem shucked him off and forced him to stand for a while, but as the fight progressed he began to follow him dowm, where he did nothing but get tied up by Werdum. Werdum was never able to lock in anything and Overeem never mounted any serious string of offense. The result was a lot of stand still.
R:3 A:2 S:2 T:2+
I re-watched the fight and giving Overeem rd 1 is straight BS. He had 3-4 strikes + 1 trip. Werdum landed plenty & the quality of Overeem's strikes is in your dreams. Its worth noting that most times Overeem acts like he's going to follow Werdum down. Only a couple of times does he immediately back off.
In the 1st min. of rd 2 Werdum had much better offense, but Overeem did enough in the next 2 minutes to win. Note Werdum's guard pulling in rd 2 was effective in terms of getting the fight where he wanted it even if he couldn't capitalize on it.
Werdum out struck Overeem in the 3rd, but most of the fight was on the ground where Overeem was in top position doing nothing.
I can see round 3 going either way, so I score it 10-10, making Overeem/Werdum a 29-29 draw.
I think people's preconceptions really clouded the perception of the action. The common belief going into the fight was that Alistair Overeem is a striking monster that will demolish Werdum if he hits him and Werdum's only hope was to get the fight to the ground, because he had nothing on the feet. As such people dismissed Werdum's striking, which his sloppy style didn't help.
Another comment I've heard is something to the effect that Werdum should be punished for pulling guard, but that's preposterous. Werdum was not avoiding the action, which would have been worthy of a penalty. But he WAS trying to engage Overeem, and as I mentioned most times Overeem looked like he was going to engage him on the ground before changing his mind.
Werdum's reaction to Overeem's punches didn't help matters as it often appears that he was getting blasted, but to me it appeared that Werdum was actually taking every opportunity to play possum and hit the mat (just like I told Michael Terrell Ford III he would).
After the fight Overeem dismissed Werdum's strikes, but during the fight Overeem backed up and covered up whenever Werdum threw a flurry and by the end he was content to lay in Werdum's guard for 3 and half minutes doing nothing but defending.
I wish it would have been scored a draw and we would have gotten a 4th round. We probably would have seen a more decisive ending and I wouldn't have had to watch the fight again.