Overeem celebrates. Photo: Feg.
This Saturday in Dallas defined the heavyweight GP semifinalists.
In the main event of the evening Fabrício Werdum was unable to put his Jiu-Jitsu to work the way he did against Fedor Emelianenko previously. Alistair Overeem’s striking prevailed. Werdum tried on various occasions to get him into his guard, but the Dutchman wisely chose to keep it standing. When the black belt finally managed to get Alistair to go with him to the ground, his attacks came up short. Overeem defended handily and got the better of the three rounds of action, earning him the unanimous decision in his favor. Now he’ll face off with Antonio Pezão in the next stage.
Josh Barnett didn’t face much opposition in Brett Rogers. In the first round, Barnett used the grappling skills that won him a No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu World Championship to good effect. He got the takedown and the mount in the first, while the second saw him swiftly finish with an arm-and-neck choke just 1:17 minutes into the round. The “Baby Faced Assassin” will square off with Sergei Kharitanov in the grand prix semifinals.
The main card fight between Gesias Cavancante and Justin Wilcox ended in a disappointing no-contest.
Check out the results:
Strikeforce – Overeem vs. Werdum
Dallas, Texas
June 18, 2011
Heavyweight GP quarterfinals
Alistair Overeem defeated Fabricio Werdum via unanimous decision;
Josh Barnett submitted Brett Rogers via arm-and-neck choke at 1:17 min of R2;
Main card
Chad Griggs defeated Valentijn Overeem via TKO at 2:08 min of R1
Daniel Cormier defeated Jeff Monson via unanimous decision;
Jorge Masvidal defeated KJ Noons via unanimous decision;
Preliminary card
Isaac Vallie-Flagg defeated Brian Melancon via split decision;
Nah-Shon Burrell defeated Joe Ray via unanimous decision;
Conor Heun defeated Magno Almeida via unanimous decision;
JZ Cavalcante vs. Justin Wilcox ended in a no-contest.