No one else has posted a thread on this one and I can see this card flying under the radar, but there are a number of fights I'm personally interested it. I'm definitely rooting for Oleynik. Nothing against Overeem, but I have a soft spot for Oleynik, with his truly unique style. People always talk about the Ezequiel Chokes he hits, but if you look over his record, he also had a ridiculous number of wins by way of scarf-hold (weird sort of headlock/neck crank/chest compression). For those with no grappling experience, it is seriously difficult to finish someone your own size with a scarfhold, even more impressive when there is no gi to add friction and keep the victim in place. I always tend to side with guys like Oleynik: overachieving warhorses. The Glen Johnson type. Oleynik has gone from being a guy who lost to Chris Tchsucher to scoring wins over Jeff Monson, Travis Browne, Mirko Crocop, and Mark Hunt. Good for him. Curious to see how Islam Machachaev looks. I'm also curious to see more from Antonina Schevchenko, older sister of Valentina. So far Antonina has shown that same potent blend of judo and muay thai that makes Valentina's game unconventional and dangerous. It's fitting this fight is taking place on Easter weekend because I expect Antonina to crucify Roxanne Modifierri. On a side note, I don't know if there are any H3H3 fans on this site, but Antonina kind of reminds me of an athletic Hila Klein.
This was a top fight for how little it lasted. Aleksei really seemed in control to me and was winning all of the exchanges. But he was trying too hard to bully Reem and every time he got close to push him back he was open to the knee. No matter how tough your chin is, a knee to the right place is gonna end you. Reem has such flexible knees Btw, the way he throws them like a hook around the guard. Although whenever I see Reem throw those knees it just reminds me of when he finally stepped to HW and destroyed Kharitonov. That then reminds me of when he was destroyed by Rua as a skinny LHW. Which makes remember those Pride days. Bear in mind I haven't been an MMA fan for that long, I charted my progress through MMA history on here so I watched a lot of Pride consecutively once it had gone bust. Man I wish I was watching at that time, they looked so insane.
Yeah, Pride was rife with killers (Axe Murderers, even) Pride getting dissolved was a real weenie-punch for MMA fans
