Strikeforce - Overeem v. Werdum

Strikeforce - "Overeem v. Werdum" will air live this Saturday night on Showtime from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The event will include the 2nd half of the 1st round of the Strikeforce HW Grand Prix.

The headlining bout pits K-1, Dream and Strikeforce HW title holder Alistair Overeem (34-11) against ADCC champ Fabricio Werdum (14-4). The game plans are obvious in this fight, as Overeem will do his best to strike and keep the fight standing. Conversly, Werdum will do his best to bring the fight to the ground, where Werdum submitted Overeem in 2006 with a kimura in Pride.

Since becoming a full-time heavyweight, Overeem's career has shot off the charts. He is 9-0 in MMA since a September 2007 KO loss to fellow tourney competitor Sergei Kharitonov. Even more impressive, Alistair was able to capture the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix World Championship, defeating kickboxing legend Peter Aerts in the final.

(Overeem KO's Fujita)

Werdum sent shockwaves through the MMA world in his last fight, a one minute long bout with Fedor Emelianenko which saw the Russian tapping. As the bout unfolded, Werdum was punched, went to the canvas, and then baited an aggressive Fedor into the fight ending triangle/armbar choke. The submission won MMA Blaster's submission of the year.

(Werdum submits Fedor)

In other action, former UFC champ Josh Barnett (29-5) meets former Elite XC and Strikeforce contender Brett Rogers. Rogers has slimmed down since his last bout, but will still be looking to use his powerful hands. The smart thing for Barnett to do would be to get the fight to the ground as quick as possible, but he may look to strike first standing.

Josh Barnett fought twice in Japan in 2010, winning via TKO over Geronimo dos Santos and submitting Mighty Mo Siliga. Barnett rose to fame in the early UFC, defeating Semmy Schilt and Bobby Hoffman to earn a title shot against Randy Couture. Barnett would defeat Couture via TKO at UFC 36, but tested positive for three banned substances. Barnett would go on to acheive success in Pride, going to the finals of the 2006 HW Grand Prix.

(Josh Barnett Pride picture)

The hard hitting Rogers rose to fame in the Elite XC when he rattled off four straight wins to earn a fight against Andrei Arlovski. Rogers would go on to knock out Arlovski with a clean shot, catapulting him into a match with Fedor Emelianenko. Unfortunately, Rogers would be TKO'd by Fedor and next to Alistair Overeem. He has since rebounded with a win over Ruben "Warpath" Villareal.

(Brett Rogers pictured)

Here is a look at the card:

SHOWTIME MAIN CARD

Alistair Overeem v. Fabricio Werdum - HW GP
Josh Barnett v. Brett Rogers - HW GP
Daniel Cormier v. Jeff Monson
Chad Griggs v. Valentijn Overeem
Jorge Masvidal v. K.J. Noons

HDNET CARD

Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante v. Justin Wilcox
Magno Almeida v. Conor Heun
Nah-Shon Burrell v. Joe Ray
Mike Bronzoulis v. Todd Moore
Brian Melancon v. Isaac Vallie-Flagg

Strikeforce HW GP Recap Video

Video of the Day - Cavalcante v. Takaya

Here is Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante fighting Hiroyuki Takaya at K-1 Hero's 6 which took place on 8/5/06 in Tokyo, Japan.

JZ will fight Justin Wilcox at Strikeforce - Overeem v. Werdum this Saturday.

Werdum Talks GP

This Saturday, ADCC champ Fabricio Werdum will face Alistair Overeem in the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. The stacked tournament saw Bigfoot Silva defeat Fedor and Sergei Kharitonov defeat Andrei Arlovski in the first round.

In the below interview done by Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, Werdum explains that he was happy that the UFC bought Strikeforce as it will prove good for the sport. Werdum is looking forward to his bout with Overeem, and hopes a tournament championship will lead to a title unification bout between Strikeforce and the UFC.

Werdum also explains that he didn't like to see Fedor lose to Bigfoot, as he liked the idea that he was the only person to defeat him. Werdum acknowledged a boost in popularity since that victory.

UFC 131 Post Fight Conference

Here is the UFC post fight conference. With a solid night of fights, Junior Dos Santos secured his title shot battering Shane Carwin for three rounds.

Kenny Florian made a successful debut at 145 winning against Diego Nunes. Kenny explains that he felt great making the transition to 145 and his cardio wasn't an issue, indicating that he was able to outlast Nunes. Dana White said it is, "more than likely" that Florian will fight Aldo for the featherweight title.

Mark Munoz indicated that he belongs in the upper echelon of the 185 division. Mark fought a close bout with Demian Maia, winning a decision. Mark has definitely earned a high profile bout in his next fight, maybe with recent winner Brian Stann.

Video of the Day - Herman v. York

Here is Dave "Pee Wee" Herman against Jim York in a crazy bout in Sengoku 11th Battle from 11/7/09. One of the craziest endings I've ever seen.

Herman next makes his UFC debut at UFC 131 on the main card against Jon Olav Einemo.

Video of the Day - Ring v. Galipeau

Here is TUF 11 castmate Nick "The Promise" Ring fighting Yannick Galipeau in Aggression MMA which took place on 10/24/2009 in Canada.

After winning two fights on TUF 11, Ring went down with another knee injury that required surgery. Ring returned to the UFC at UFC 127 winning a controversial decision over Riki Fukuda. Ring will look to improve his performance at UFC 131 against James Head.

Video of the Day - Stevenson v. Jackson

Here is Joe Stevenson v. Jeremy Jackson from King of the Cage's "Bad Intention's" show which took place on 6/22/02.

Stevenson next fights Javier Vazquez at UFC on Versus 4 this Sunday. Stevenson is in desperate need of a victory to remain in the UFC

UFC on Verus 4 will be take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the CONSOL Energy Center, broadcasting on Versus and Facebook. As you can see, the UFC career of many fighters will be decided on Sunday with the loser being cut from the organization.

Versus Card

Nate Marquardt v. Rick Story
Pat Barry v. Cheick Kongo
Matt Brown v. John Howard
Matt Mitrione v. Christian Morecraft

Facebook Card

Manny Gamburyan v. Tyson Griffin
Joe Stevenson v. Javier Vazquez
Joe Lauzon v. Curt Warburton
Rich Attonito v. Daniel Roberts
Nik Lentz v. Charles Oliveira
Matt Grice v. Ricardo Lamas
Edward Faaloloto v. Michael Johnson

2011 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships

The 2011 NCAA division I wrestling championships results. Bubba Jenkins won his first title, after placing 2nd while at Penn State in 2008. Jenkins, the champ at 157 pounds, is currently training at American Top Team, training to make his MMA debut.

This year produced some awesome results, with Penn State, led by coach Cael Sanderson, winning the overall team championship. In an interesting story, Anthony Robles, with one leg, managed to win a championship at 125 pounds. He has stated that it was his last match of his career.

Many of these elite athletes will try to continue a path of amateur wrestling, but some will come to mixed martial arts. Strength, conditioning, mental toughness, the ability to cut weight and quickness are all traits of most high level wrestlers.

The biggest skill that transfers to MMA is the ability to take someone down and defend the take down. However, the mental aspect cannot be overlooked as most of these guys take part in over 100 combat matches over a college career.

Jordan Oliver, Kellen Russell and Jonathan Reader all capped off undefeated seasons. Jordan Burroughs won his second championship, his first being at 157 pounds in 2009. Cornell's Kyle Dake captured his second NCAA championship, this time at 149 pounds after winning the 141 title last year.

125- Anthony Robles (ASU) def Matt McDonough (Iowa) 7-1
133- Jordan Oliver (OSU) def Andrew Hochstrasser (BSU) 8-4
141- Kellen Russell (Mich) def Boris Novachkov (Poly) 3-2
149- Kyle Dake (Cornell) def Frank Molinaro (PSU) 8-1
157- Bubba Jenkins (ASU) def David Taylor (PSU) - Fall
165- Jordan Burroughs (Neb) def Tyler Caldwell (OK) 11-3
174- Jonathan Reader (ISU) def Nick Amuchastegui (Stan) 10-3
184- Quentin Wright (PSU) def Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) 5-2
197- Dustin Kilgore (Kent) def Clayton Foster (OSU) - Fall
285- Zachery Rey (Lehigh) def Ryan Flores (American) 2-1

Team Results:

Penn State (PSU)- 107.5
Cornell - 93.5
Iowa - 86.5
Oklahoma State (OSU)- 70.5
American - 65
Arizona State (ASU)- 62.5
Minnesota - 61
Lehigh - 58.5
Boise State (BSU)- 57.5
Wisconsin - 54.5
*(Stan) - Stanford
*(Poly) - Cal Poly

Video of the Day - Ferguson v. Park

Here is TUF 13 finalist Tony Ferguson fighting Frank Park at Long Beach Fight Night 3 which took place on 1/4/09 in Long Beach, California.

Tony won the TUF 13 170 Pound Tournament Finale by knocking out Ramsey Nijem. Tony, who wrestled at 165 pounds in college is undecided on whether his future lies at the 155 or 170 division.

Video of the Day - Nijem v. Casey

Here is Ramsey Nijem's final bout before fighting in the TUF 13 tournament against Scott Casey at Showdown Fights - Respect which took place on 9/24/10 in Orem, Utah.

Ramsey will fight Tony Ferguson for the TUF 13 Title on Saturday.

TUF 13 Finale - Ramsey v. Ferguson

The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 regular season has wrapped, leaving two fighters, Ramsey Nijem (4-1) and Tony Ferguson (10-2) to battle for the tournament championship. Each fighter won three bouts via stoppage to advance to the finale. Nijem was Junior Dos Santos' fourth-round pick while Ferguson was Brock Lesnar's third pick.

Ramsey Nijem, with some unusual in house antics, looked solid in competition. In his first bout, Ramsey dominated Charlie Radar with constant pressure and takedowns. He eventually won after injuring Radar's shoulder on a second round takedown then rear naked choke. The second bout saw much of the same, as Nijem overwelmed Clay Harvision for a quick first round rear naked choke.

The final bout against Chris Cope saw Ramsey throw more hands, rocking Cope in the second with an overhand right. Ramsey continued with the punishment coaxing a ref intervention for a TKO. Expect Ramsey to attempt to apply constant pressure against Tony Ferguson, looking for takedowns to utilize his stifling top game.

Tony Ferguson wanted to throw punches in bunches during all three of his tournament bouts. In the first fight, Tony traded with Justin Edwards before being taken down. Looking for openings and being active on the ground, Tony unloaded a nasty upkick to Edwards jaw, earning the KO victory.

In his second bout, Ferguson quick clean punches for a first round TKO victory over Ryan McGillivray. In his final tournament bout, Ferguson went toe to toe with Chuck O'Neil. O'Neil thwarted some Ferguson takedowns and landed some nice inside/outside leg kicks on Ferguson. However, Tony landed the crisper punches to the face throughout, landing flush in the third eventually ending Chuck's tourney run.

In other action, the final 155 WEC champ Anthony "Showtime" Pettis will face off against Clay Guida. After landing the infamous matrix kick off the cage against Ben Henderson, Pettis seemed destined for a UFC title shot to unite the titles. Unfortunately, the UFC title picture became muddied as current UFC champ Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard battled to a draw. While preparing for the rematch, each fighter sustained injuries.

The delay has prompted this bout, which would validate a future title shot for Pettis, and could put Guida closer to the title shot. Besides the performance over Henderson, Pettis has won via triangle over Shane Roller and Alex Karelexis while KO'ing Danny Castillo with a head kick. Pettis will look to time Guida's movement, utilizing punches to set up his kicks. Don't expect too many kicks, as he will look to stuff eventual Guida takedown attempts.

(Anthony Pettis kick)

Clay Guida, a five year UFC vet, is currently riding three straight submission victories of his own. With his frenetic style with constant head movement, Guida will look to punch to set up his takedowns. Once on the ground, Guida will look to stifle Pettis' submissions while issuing heavy doses of ground and pound.

(Clay Guida throwing a punch)

Here is the full fight card, featuring six fighters from TUF 13, and four from other TUF seasons:

MAIN CARD

Tony Ferguson v Ramsey Nijem - TUF 13 Finale
Clay Guida v Anthony Pettis
Chris Cope (TUF 13) v Chuck O'Neil (TUF 13)
Kyle Kingsbury (TUF 8) v Fabio Maldonado
Tim Credeur (TUF 7) v Ed Herman (TUF 3)

PRELIMS (Select bouts air if time allows)

Reuben Duran v Francisco Rivera
Scott Jorgensen v Ken Stone
Justin Edwards(TUF 13) v Clay Harvison (TUF 13)
Shamar Bailey(TUF 13) v Ryan McGillivray (TUF 13)
Josh Grispi v George Roop (TUF 8)
Danny Downes v Jeremy Stephens