On the cusp of one the most important fight of his career, a rematch with current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum has the upper hand that most fighters cannot proclaim heading into the illustrious Grand Prix, which for the submission specialist begins in March.
Among Werdum and Alistair, Antonio Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Sergei Kharitonov, Brett Rogers, Josh Barnett, and Andrei Arlovski are among the competitors in the upcoming tournament, three of which Fabricio has beaten in recent competition.
And for trainer Rafael Cordeiro, he believes that Werdum can shock the world once again, much like what the Brazilian did when he submitted the seemingly unbeatable Fedor Emelianenko last April.
“We’ve started his preparation as soon as he got better from his surgery. He’s super motivated for this fight, we have great training partners. Werdum will shock you once again”, said head trainer Cordeiro who spoke with TATAME.com recently about his student’s upcoming bout with the champ.
“The level of difficulty they’ll have to face in each fight will show us who the best in the world is. We’ll give our best to make Werdum proves he’s the best of this championship.
Though the match-up in of itself will not be contested for the promotion’s title, participating in this tournament, and winning no less will be a huge accomplishment for any one man. For Fabricio, he holds victories over the likes of Emelianenko, Antonio Silva, and another win over “The Reem” would be a great way to start his inception into the infamous Grand Prix, which has received lots of positive attention since it has been announced. It’s really a PRIDE-like throwback for most of the hardcore fans, and the fighters assembled for such a tourney make it that much more special, with former champions and top-10 talent riddled all over.
Werdum has the daunting task of finding a way to defeat the surging Overeem once again. The two met previously in 2006, with the multiple time Abu Dhabi Combat Club champion submitting the Dutch striker with a kimura in the second round. Now, over 4 years have passed and both men have improved dramatically, with most of the spotlight dawning Alistair as of late, since the goliath heavyweight has since been able to nab the DREAM interim title as well as the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 belt, defeating the likes of Tyrone Sponge, Gokhan Saki, and legend Peter Aerts all in one night to reign as king over the kickboxing world.
It will be pitted as a classic “Striker vs. Grappler” match, where it should be no surprise where either man would like the fight to play out.
So, MMA peeps, what do you like about Werdum’s chances against the Holland native? Will he be able to pull another submission out of his bag of tricks, or will Overeem crush the challenger with one of his lethal dose of knees and punches? Sound off in the comment section below.
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i think Alistair has become a more complete fighter including ground fighting which is the main strength of Fabricio. Fabricio will only stand a chance when the fight goes to the floor, Alistair will however do anything to get Fabricio on both of his feet and will overthrow him with punches and knees, the latter a huge weapon. A lot of times i see MMA fighters quickly forget about defense, another good advantage for Alistair since he has large experience in K1 fighting, but i have to say Fabricio is an excellent and experienced fighter and he is the underdog and may be his advantage in submitting Alistair once more…
@Clumsyninja
I agree. I just don’t see how Werdum takes this fight. He’s had problems izn the past with larger men with a grappling acumen with good stand-up skills, ie Antonio “Big Foot” Silva, who knocked down Fabricio and went to a decision with the ADCC champ, despite spending sometime with home on the ground. And Overeem’s striking abilities at this point in time are the best in the world, which is evidence by his K-1 title. I can see this being a one-rounder for “The Demolition Man”.
It’s a difficult fight for him as the giant Dutchman is no slouch on the ground. I feel that Overeem has enough grappling skill to keep it upright, where he has a massive advantage. ‘reem will likely learn the fedor lesson, and make him stand up, not GNP. Reem in the early second round…ko