Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum Strikeforce Heavyweight Title Fight Confirmed for August 15
Strikeforce today announced that the promotion’s heavyweight title-holder Alistair Overeem will defend his title against Fabricio Werdum at its August 15 “Carano vs. Cyborg” event in San Jose, California.
The long-rumored matchup is the third championship bout on the Showtime-televised card, joining Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, who meet for the newly-created Strikeforce 145-pound Women’s Championship, as well as a lightweight title unification and rematch between Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez. Nick Diaz vs. Joe Riggs is also expected to be featured on the event’s main card.
Overeem and Werdum previously fought in May 2006 in PRIDE, with Werdum winning the bout via second-round submission.
The loss to Werdum started a stretch that saw Overeem (29-11-1) lose 5 of 7 fights, before rebounding to go unbeaten in five-straight bouts dating back to late-2007. Overeem began the unbeaten streak by winning the vacant Strikeforce heavyweight belt with a second-round submission (due to strikes) of Paul Buentello. He’s since won three more bouts, including wins over Mark Hunt and Gary Goodridge, as well as a no contest against Mirko Cro Cop, but has yet to defend the title.
Considered among the best heavyweights in the world, Werdum was rumored to be in line for a heavyweight title shot in the UFC following wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera, but was cut by the promotion after suffering a first-round TKO to newcomer Junior dos Santos. The former Brazilian jiu-jitsu and ADCC world champion holds notable wins over Aleksander Emelianenko and Overeem, as well as losses to Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
For the latest Strikeforce rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.
Tags: Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum
Loading ...
Its about time he defended the title.
Amen to that.
Yes that is 3 title fights in one night… There are some other rumors that are out there, that will make this card even bigger…. I cannot wait for this card and it is going to be absolutly F~ING crazy… Ofcourse I will be in attendance have one helll of a memoriable time..
Well it safe to say that Rogers is gonna be pissed hes been KO guys left and right. Werdum has never even fought in the org and is coming off a 9 month lay off, a boot from the UFC, and a KO. But he got screwed out of a shot against Couture with the whole Lesnar thing so what goes around comes around i guess.
Was thinking the exact same thing, carls.
Well let’s be honest carls shall we… To sell this fight for Overeem’s return you need an angle and Kurt won’t do… So whynot have a guy that has defeated Alistair before and called him out in San Jose, CA and says he will defeat Overeem again, so there is a “back story”… Now who is more deserving of the shot, helll I guess Bret is he beat Abongo and AA sooo good on him, but guess what with giving Werdum the first shot @ Overeem, Rogers is essentially a lock for the shot after that… Does it suck sure but the Werdum v Overeem fight has a better story and well Rogers can just wait 3months and get his shot after…. I personally wanted to see Rogers v Lavar but now that won’t be happening… Hey Overeem v Werdum II is going to be a hell of a fight and atleast Alistair is back to defend his belt… With the signing of Roger Gracie (who is on this card too) they are making some decent (not great) signings…
StrikeForce isn’t the UFC and they aren’t attempting to overtake anyone, they are just trying to put on awesome shows with wonderful talent and build their little Northern California Org up and do so with great matchmaking, excellent promoting and honestly some ethics behind what they do.. This ISN’T ProElite squared, and I for one am thankful of that…..
werdum is hella overrated dude. He didn’t get a shot @ couture because he didn’t deserve one. Everyone saw how he didn’t GnP vera. One of the worst stoppages ever. But like FR said, rogers gets a shot anyway and this fight has history which means its easy to hype up and attract more people.
FR
By no means do I think that this is a bad fight. Im just saying that Rogers was already set to face Overeem before Alistair got injured. So what does he do he fights anyways. And not to some bum but someone who was ranked top 6 in the world(at the time)
Just put yourself in Rogers shoes for a second. Your an undefeated prospect. Still green, but promising plus your in a small pond anyways and the current roster of heavyweights in your div is only 7 fighters deep including youself. Your set to fight for the belt and your ready to go. The champ gets injured. But instead of waiting you stay and fight one of the top ranked fighters in the world(at the time) Completely putting your #1 contendership on the line. Your considered the underdog in the fight and you KO him in under 30 seconds. Now you realy feel pumped about going for the belt. Buuuuuuuuuuuut some guy who hasnt fought in 9 months who just got fired from his org, after getting KOed against a relatively unknown opponent.
Not to mention he lost to the guy you just beat, all of a sudden this guy gets the shot instead of you, IN HIS FIRST FIGHT FOR THE COMPANY. And your bosses say to you well you know he beat him back in 2006. So sorry man.
Of course there could be alot of stuff going on behind the scenes that we dont know about. And this did happen to Werdum back in the UFC, all I was saying is that Rogers must be pretty pi$$ed.
I get what you are saying carls and definatly you have a crazy good points man, I’m thinking as the org you’re thinking as the fighter and honestly the opinion that you have brought forth I do agree with my man good on ya
And hey, if carls is steamed about Rogers being boxed out by Werdum for a title shot, imagine how pi$$ed Rogers is, and how hard he’s going to hit Werdum if and when they hook it up?
I see no change in Overeem’s game to show me he will defeat Werdum unless he does what AA did to Werdum.
overeem has changed alot….he will easyily ko werdum im telling just watch……..werdum is a very overated fighter at hw and his win over vera while yes vera should have done more to cover up..i believe given a second chance both vera and gonzaga would defeat him……..now while yes rogers should get a shot i dont believe he should get one though because ….he is a one sided fighter all he has is striking and guess what overeem is a better striker …rogers cant beat overeem…..10 out of 10 times im telling everyone overeem beats rogers….who has beat nobody’s but a weak chined thomson and a weak chinned arlovski…while yes rogers deserves to be ranked top ten with his win oer arlovski …i dont believe he could beat anyone in the top 15 of the division
Gun, I’m confused by the statement…. “while yes rogers deserves to be ranked top ten with his win oer arlovski ….i dont believe he could beat anyone in the top 15 of the division”
See this is the problem with rankings, many think that he should be top 15 or whatever but there isn’t anyone in that list that he can beat.. Mind you he possibly could be so and so here and there but could he take out the list, no… so if he can’t compete against the top 15 in the world why would he be ranked?
/what ever that was
I just hope Overeem gets the win and confirms what we (and the UFC) think about Werdum, that he’s overrated.
I honestly think that even more than being overrated, which I wouldn’t dispute, the hard truth is both Overeem and Werdum are incomplete MMA fighters to varying degrees.
Sure, they may have improved somewhat since their submission wrestling and Pride/K-1 days, but when push comes to shove Overeem is a Thai boxer, and Werdum is a grappler, and they like it that way. This match-up is almost like a throwback fight to the early days of the sport, when you had a wrestler taking on a kickboxer, with usually mixed results.
Although I think that Overeem’s game is probably more polished than Werdum’s at this point in their careers.
I’m also not sure if the rumors swirling around Overeem that he’s using performance enhancers will play a part or not, but as cliche as this is to say, it’s simply a matter of where the fight goes. Standing Overeem should eventually catch Werdum, probably with some wicked knee strike combo, but if Werdum can get it on the ground, he’ll most likely hook and submit Overeem again.
If Werdum has any bit of brains, he’ll quickly close on and hang all over Overeem like a poorly tailored suit, drag him down to the mat like his life depends on it, and it sort of does, and grab a limb for dear life and start cranking until he feels a tap or a snap.
After watching some of Overeem’s K-1 fights and his KO of some poor S Korean who’s name escapes me at the moment, I know I would want no part of throwing hands with this guy, regardless of whether he’s juicing or not.
Their lack of well-roundedness and unfamiliarity with the cage is exactly why they aren’t in the UFC, and most likely won’t be anytime soon.
I look for Overeem to even the score with Werdum come 15 August…
i think rogers would be easier for overeem..
dos santos caught werdum clean but werdum has a very good chin.
i dont think he was ko’d before.
werdum better on ground and has fought greater opponents.
i think he’s quicker standing
al has power advantage in clinch / if against ropes