Will Alistair Overeem be able to handle Brock Lesnar's wrestling?

Quote :

At UFC 141, Alistair Overeem will be making his heavily anticipated UFC debut. In his first fight, he will not be given an easy fight, he will be taking on former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

Many people have counted out Lesnar due to his inactivity, but one thing that is for sure, the Lesnar camp has been very quiet, and the small interactions that have come from the camp have had nothing but positives to describe Lesnar, since he is now able to train to his true potential.

Alistair is always a favorite to win, based off of his look alone. He arguably has the best physique in the sport, but that being said, looks can be deceiving.

Since his lackluster performance against Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem has been in the middle of controversy. He was “expected” to KO Werdum, but instead was out-struck and according to fight metric lost the fight, but since Werdum attempted to pull guard many times it gave Overeem the win. In the fight, Overeem gassed very quickly and the whole time was hesitant to attack because he feared the take down.

Overeem has the experience advantage in this fight, but in 47 professional fights, he has only faced top competition 11 times, posting a 3-8 record in that span. Many people credit the submission game of Overeem since he has 19 submission wins, but when those wins are broken down, only one of those wins was against a man worth crediting in that area, and that is Vitor Belfort, but another notable is Igor Vovchanchyn.

Alistair Overeem is the Strikeforce Heavyweight and the K-1 World Grand Prix Champion. He won the Strikeforce belt against Paul Buentello, and only defended it once against Brett Rogers, whom just lost a fight with UFC veteran Eddie Sanchez.

Going into the Grand Prix, Overeem had a 5-4 record and was part of arguably the smallest talent pool in the history of this legendary tourney. Overeem defeated injury-ridden opponents and once the tourney was over, he became a self-proclaimed legend.

Submit Vote vote to see results
Since the Werdum fight, he has left Golden Glory, signed with the UFC, decided to sue Golden Glory, almost not been licensed due to leaving the country to be with his sick mother the day he was set to be drug tested and he almost got pulled from his fight with Lesnar.

Those reasons alone are tough for any man to be able to focus on a fight. The fact that he is in Holland training and not at Xtreme Couture working hard on his wrestling is not a very good thing to do. Throughout his career, Alistair has never faced a wrestler, let alone a man with the size, strength, speed and cardio that Lesnar possesses.

Lately in MMA, there have been some striker vs. wrestler fights. Chael Sonnen vs Brian Stann and John Makdessi vs Dennis Hallman. They both ended the same, with the wrestler playing to their strengths and getting the win.

If Lesnar gets Overeem to the ground, it is going to be a long night for Alistair.

In your debut for the biggest company in all of mixed martial arts, the last thing you need is to face a man who’s biggest strength is your biggest weakness, and all of the distractions that Overeem has faced as of late are no help at all.

Lesnar has his new share of legal battles based on hunting charges, but he has elected to have his case postponed until mid-January.

Source

If Overeem cannot finish the fight in the first round (when he is fast and able to prevent takedowns), I see no way Overeem wins this fight.

Overeem is overrated and will pose no problem for Lesnar.

I think the more important question is will Brock fight smart and go for the takedown?

If he comes out and shoots for a TD early and often, then yeah, he should able to work Reem over.
But if he comes out and tries to throw hands for too long, he will get caught at some point. And Reem has pretty good killer instinct when he hurts someone, so it might be over quickly if Brock gets rattled.

Brock needs to put him on his ass and keep him there.

^Fully agreed

I was thinking Overeem at the beginning, but the more I think about it, the more I'm going for Brock, I think he's had alot of time off and alot of time to tune his skills and do the right thing this time...vs just charging in scared like he did against Cain. I think he's going to be hungry and he's going to fight a smarter fight this time.

Overeem won't be able to stop Lesnars takedowns but Lesnar will crumple if he gets hit in the face. It will all come down to who can strike first.

Grey Suit wrote:

Overeem won't be able to stop Lesnars takedowns but Lesnar will crumple if he gets hit in the face. It will all come down to who can strike first.

this (well put)

If Overeem can hit Lesnar before he shoots then he has a chance. I have no idea how Lesnars camp has been going, but if he has not allowed sparring again he could be screwed.

If Overeem were smart imo he would bum rush Lesnar and try and get him curling up in a ball and running away quickly. If he tries the counter punch approach like he did with Werdum he will be leaving himself wide open for Lesnars TDs and it will be an easy day for Brock.

I've been saying this also. Reem must KO or TKO Brock in the first round... If he does not, Lesnar will win. He'll wear Overeem down, out-wrestle him, and GnP him to a victory.

First Round is Crucial to Reem's victory.

Lesnar has more experience in the Octagon, a former champion, and has fought legitimate heavyweights. Frank Murrrrr, Co-Toor, Heath Herring, Shane Carwin, Velasquez.

In such a short MMA Career, Lesnar has done it all in THE BIG STAGE.


To answer the Question, I put NO.

(In the first round Reem might stop a takedown or two, but as the fight goes on, he won't be-able to).

That's a negatory good, buddy.

FistK wrote:

I have no idea how Lesnars camp has been going, but if he has not allowed sparring again he could be screwed.

Pat Barry punches Brock Lesnar hard in the Face

Is this a 5 rounder?

Aren't all main events now? Or are they just assigning them...

My understanding is that they all are. Diaz/Penn was not because it wasn't initially a scheduled main event, but all from here on out (starting with Mayhem/Bisping) are 5-round fights.

If it gets to that point then no. I've been telling my friends for months now the winner of this fight comes down to who engages first if Lesnar does than he should destroy him on the ground, but if Overeem does then he should be able to destroy him standing up.

Im with Grey,

If Reem lands early and flush its over

If Brock gets the TD early its over

I say no, but I'm really concerned that Brock isn't going to be the same Brock we saw before... and not in a good way. I don't care who you are, but if you have a major surgery to have 12 inches of your colon removed you will not be the same. This really concerns me along with the fact that Brock hasn't fought in over a year (14 months I think), so ring rust is a big concern too.

Overeem has problems too, but I just can't give the edge to Brock.