First of all props to Silva, very skilled on the ground IMO and with ferocious g'n'p, not a massive hitter but a damaging one. But Fedor proved his toughness and resilience once again. Battling out of that side arm choke was heroic, and he seemed willing to come out. The man has a heart of a lion, but his best days are behind him. This was not akin to Liddell being sparked numerous times on the way out, Saku being used as cannon fodder or Royce being thoroughly embarrased by the supposed 'new guard' in Hughes. Silva was massive and skilled, something Zuluzinho and Hong Man Choi were not. Unlike Schilt, Silva being a grous fighter meant not only was he dangerous but more likely to be able to wear Fedor down. A well executed gameplan on the 2nd round, that takedown was nigh on undefendable. I had Fedor winning a close first round, and think a third round wouldve been competitive too, Silva looked close to gassing and you never know what Fedor could've pulled out. But he was damaged enough that I personally felt he should've been pulled out, if Silva did have anything else left it could've been a very perilous situation. All in all, Silva will get sparked by The Reem IMO. If he gets on top he'd have less physical advantages. As for Fedor, he wasn't disgraced, just outfought tonight. He still looked top class IMO, but with his physical prime behind him, I think it would cement his greatness and do himself no disservice to bow out now. He hasn't quite got it anymore. Anyone see any relevance in three of his most difficult fights (very competitive brawl with Rogers, triangle loss to Werdum, injured and battered by Silva) have all come in bouts in a cage?
And the GP isn't dead either. Now it's clear Fedor wasn't going to steamroll the competition, I'm glad I didn't see him in with Overeem! If Werdum pulled it out then a rematch would've been viable and I think last nights Fedor wouldve had less hassle with Werdum a second time round than he had with Big Foot a few hours ago. I'm hoping for a Barnett-Reem final. Rogers' head has been down since his embarrassing post-fight interview after Fedor sparked him, I see Barnett subbing him. Kharitonov is a dangerous, dangerous striker and well-versed on the deck, but Barnett is a big, big man and I think he'll beat Sergei on points. Reem will go through Big Foot IMO. If Silva takes him down he'll find it much harder to exert his size and strength on a man bigger him than him IMO. The Reem is gonna' smash his body with knees then punch his head in. Then it's Alistair Vs Josh. If Overeem makes the final, 5 rounds for the first genuine defence of the Strikeforce Heavyweight title seems a given.
Reem is not exactly talentless on the floor either, his sheer strength will make him harder to outmanouver than Fedor, Silva will have to come through leg kicks and knees to get him down anyway. Clinching Reem against the cage isn't as easy either because The Reem is jot there to be manhandled in the clinch. 30lbs is not 60lbs, and Silva isn't suddenly super-formidable because he banged up Fedor. The Reem is very strong on his feet, and because Silva doesn't have as big of a size advantage he will find it much more difficult to display the form we saw from him today.
Silvas length and agility was what allowed him to administer his BJJ game as he did. Reem will have a more difficult guard to pass, is that not a fair assessment?
No. FEDOR is the most successful heavyweight from his back, perhaps with NOG, in the history of the sport. Overreem isn't...it doesn't matter how big his deltoids are.
I'm well aware of Fedors skill of his back, freakish strength and agility (in fact he still demonstated his insane survival ability from there in this fight) but all I'm saying is Overeem will not be as easy to manhandle as Fedor was. Silva was so strong and big Fedor found it hard to pull a sub, hard to get out and Silva had little difficulty passing into full mount. Fedors resilience and skill on his back was really demonstrated when getting out of that choke and then attempting to counter the knee bar. I'm well aware that Big Foot, a judoka and BJJ practitioner, has a massive advantage there against Reem and that Fedor is infinitely more skilled there as well. I just don't see Overeem being that easy to get there. Regardless of physique, he has shown to be very physically strong. Just to add I'm not one of these 'Ubereem' nut higgers: I just think he poses more problems to Big Foot than Fedor did because he will not be as outsized. Is it a 50-50 fight? Yes it is, Silva looked far more impressive than he did against Kyle and Arlovski. But whilst Silva has a big advantage on the floor, Overeem obviously has a big advantage standing up.
Uberroid batters him standing. One sided, two-fisted domination. Brock or Cain or someone who'll ankle-bite him are the guys he could lose to.
