How much weaker would a UFC 8-man HW tournament be?

Who has Overeem beaten that is better than Herring?

 

Brett Rogers.

handled him with ease, and stopped him.

if you watched herrings fights previous to his defeat from lesnar you would agree that Rogers was a better win (and more impressive) than an old, far past it Texas Crazyhorse, **** todd duffee was probably a superior fighter than herring was by that point.

 

Agreed.

Rogers gave Fedor a very good go. For a big lump he seemed to have a nice jab, was strong and had decent GNP. Had Fedor in trouble a few times in the first round.

Against Reem he looked lethargic, and got easily manhandled. He was a better fighter at that point than Herring was against Lesnar.

 

Rogers is fat and his technique ain't pretty but he is big, strong, powerful guy who did ko Arlovski and was competative with Fedor.

 

Rogers hits very hard, and caught Arlovski. That may happen every time they fight, but it does nothing to show us his skilled he is. It showed us how real his power is. Rogers fight with Thompson showed how quickly Rogers can end a fight. The Thompson fight also showed that power he has is really the only thing that separates him from Kimbo Slice's skill level. Thompson was bullying Rogers around the cage until he landed a devastating combo.

Rogers fight with Fedor was a better showing than people expected, but it's not like he was dominating the fight and got his lights turned out. It was also Fedor's first fight in a cage, and I think that had something to do with that performance. Remind me what he did that was so special against Fedor. Rogers landed a hard jab, and punch or so on the ground.

Herring had lost a decision to Nogueira. Nogueira was coming off his win over Barnett. Herring also defeated Kongo. Kongo was coming off his win over Cro Cop. Cro Cop was less than a year removed from his win over Barnett, though I think the was cage as much an issue for Cro Cop as anything.

Rogers still has a lot to learn, and may go on to be better than Herring. Right now, I'd take the version of Herring that beat Kongo over the Rogers that faced Fedor.

 

Oh, and in addition to that...

If Rogers is the only guy you can think of for Overeem, how does his resume compare to Lesnar's? Lesnar also has Couture, Mir, and Carwin in addition to Herring.

 

By the time he faced Brock what takedown defence Herring had was long gone due to his dodgy knees, guys like Kongo were taking him down with ease.

Rogers is IMHO as I said before NYE the opposite of Duffee, both guys arent very polished but Brett fights within his abilties far more rather as the Duffman fights like he's Fedor and leave a ton of openings as a result. The only obvious weakness we've seen from Rogers is IMHO his cardio vs Warpath and Overeem didnt need to exploit that to win, he was just better than Brett in all areas, better standup, better wrestling, better sub game and more powerful.

Thats true of most of Overeems performances, its not just the names he's beaten but the manner it which he's done it. In a division where the real level of alot of fighters is uncertain that counts for alot, alot of other guys have been getting hype based on some rather dubious rankings.