Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Rogers

It hardly seems like another matchup is possible, and that the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title will be a battle between two monsterous, explosive strikes. Whether defending champion Alistair Overeem (29-11-0-1 MMA, #7 IWMMAR ) will have fully recovered from his hand injury and returned to fighting fitness by August 15th, but if he has, it certainly seems possible that he could fight top contender Brett “The Grim” Rogers (10-0 MMA, #9 IWMMAR ) .

After Rogers knocked out former top five heavyweight Andrei Arlovski (15-7 MMA, 10-4 UFC, #10 IWMMAR ) , handing the Belarussian his second straight loss. Andrei’s previous loss, for those who don’t remember, came at the hands of the reigning division king: Fedor Emelianenko (30-1 MMA, #1 IWMMAR ) . It was a win that legitimized Rogers and his hard headed, heavy handed style of striking, which many felt (before) had was not technical enough to handle a solid boxer like Arlovski, or a solid kickboxer like Overeem.

Alistair, on the other hand, has been on a streak, racking up four wins and a no contest in his last five fights, and capturing the Strikeforce heavyweight title with a win over Paul Buentello (24-9 MMA, 2-1 UFC) . Unfortunately, Overeem has been inactive since November of last year and coming back off an injury, with that kind of ring rust is always risky, especially against a larger opponent like Rogers.

What’s interesting about Overeem’s latest winning streak, especially going into a fight with Rogers, is that he’s won two of those five fights with submission holds (Buentello submitted, but as a result of strikes). Of course, that’s not unheard of. Overeem is generally regarded as a kickboxer, but his guillotine choke has garnered a lot of respect, even from pure grapplers. It might be interesting to see if Overeem chooses to put Rogers on the mat, if he regards The Grimm as enough of a threat standing to deserve taking down.

Overeem has also put on a lot of weight recently, and is definitely not going to be returning to the lightheavyweight division anytime soon (Overeem now sits at around 255 pounds). Rogers will still have a size advantage, but Overeem is a massive heavyweight, perhaps the largest that Rogers has ever fought (though not much larger than Arlovski). Alistair will almost certainly be considered the more technical striker, as well as the superior grappler, but so was Arlovski, and we saw how that ended.

Rogers hasn’t yet been tested on the ground, so its hard to assess whether or not the champ will be a superior grappler at all, just as its hard to assess who has the striking advantage. Either way, this is a great potential fight between a fighter the long time fans are familiar with, who has evolved a great deal recently, and Rogers, a relative unknown who has run through everyone he’s fought, though he ran into some trouble with the kicks of Ron “Abongo” Humphrey (5-1 MMA) , and it should be a great war.