Hello everyone!
I'm here to talk about the state of the Heavyweight Division. It is currently ruled by champion Cain Velasquez. In my eyes, no one has the abilities to beat him except for one Heavyweight fighter. His name? Not Junior Dos Santos, obviously, not Travis Brown . . . Alistair Overeem, ladies and gentlemen.
Travis Browne and Frabricio Werdum are currently booked to fight in Orlando, Florida on April 19th. This fight will determine the next opponent for Velasquez, probably in November. Meanwhile, #1 contender Junior Dos Santos is booked to fight Stipe Miocic at UFC 173 as the co-main event.
It has already been proven that JDS cannot beat Cain. He was dominated in their second and third fight together. So where does that leave Junior? Killing Miocic, I guess. After that fight, though, what? He should not get another shot at the title against Velasquez for awhile.
Going down the ranks just a little bit, Alistair Overeem is coming off a decision win against Frank Mir at UFC 169. Lots of people think Josh Barnett should be The Reem's next opponent. I totally disagree with this, though, and let me explain why. Overeem was dominating against Travis Browne, until Alistair's terrible cardio showed. As I previously explained in a different post, Overeem had bad coaching, and basically when he tried to finish Browne, was throwing punches that had little or no effect. Overeem then was gassed, and Browne got the KO.
Alistair fought a way smarter fight against Mir. Sure, he played it safe and didn't kick often, but he picked his punches, and clearly improved his cardio.
Travis Browne recently demolished Josh Barnett. If Overeem fought Browne now, Travis would get killed, I believe. So - even though Travis Browne did beat Alistair Overeem, let's say Overeem killed Browne, which he was doing so. Does it make sense for Overeem and Barnett to fight? Barnett got destroyed by the fighter who was getting destroyed against The Reem.
I don't know what you guys see, but I don't get why people think Barnett should fight Overeem.
I personally believe Alistair should fight the loser of Travis Browne and Fabricio Werdum. It lines up pretty nicely. I take that back. I think Alistair should fight Junior, but as we know, that probably won't happen. Alistair already turned that down. So, like I said, the loser of Browne and Werdum. Then, if Overeem is successful against the loser of that fight, should get a crack at the title against whoever is the champion at the time. I believe Cain will be successful against the winner of Travis and Fabricio.
Then, there's Dos Santos. A great fighter, but in a bad position. Assuming he will beat Stipe, he might get another crack at the title, unless the champion is still Cain. I still don't think they're going to give Junior another fight against Cain, for a long time. Might take 2 non-title fights for Dos Santos to get a title shot again.
Anything can happen, though. I'm anxiously waiting to find out who will fight Alistair Overeem next.
Thanks for reading my view on the current state of the Heavyweight Division, and my opinion on what fights should happen next.
Nick
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