The Final Bell MMA
By: Dylan Saraiva
Twitter: @DJSarv21 Instagram: @DJSarv21
This Saturday’s fight night card is headlined with a huge heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem vs Alexander Volkov. The two monstrous heavyweights have both been on a tear recently through the division and are now both vying for an opportunity to face the Heavyweight GOAT of the UFC, Stipe Miocic.
Looking at Volkov’s run first he is a fighter that is a very precise striker and enjoys keeping his opponents at length in order to land crisp shots to the head and body. His TKO against Walt Harris earlier this year demonstrated that exceptionally well with a mix of head, body, and leg kicks before setting up the front kick that finished the fight. Volkov has gone 5-2 in his last 7 fights, losing to Derrick Lewis on a memorable KO punch in a fight he was dominating well into the third round. His other loss came to Curtis Blaydes in which he lost a unanimous decision after being out wrestled for three rounds. In order to have an opportunity to defeat Overeem he needs to keep the fight standing because the ground game is where the holes in Volkov’s game are quite present. Volkov has a 32-8 professional MMA record and the 32 year old is definitely looking for his opportunity to be in the title picture as his athletic prime begins to slowly disappear.
Image: from MMAFighting
The man standing across from him in the Octagon is someone who MMA fans around the globe are very familiar with. Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem has been a mainstay in professional MMA since 1999. Overeem began originally competing in the 205 pound, Light Heavyweight division, before debuting at heavyweight in 2006. Overeem’s list of accomplishments is hard to argue against being a former Dream and K-1 kickboxing heavyweight champion. The “Reem” holds a professional MMA record of 47-18-1 No Contest and has performed extremely well against top tier heavyweight competition his entire career.
Overeem is also not a stranger to the Heavyweight title picture in the UFC either as he had one title shot previously against Miocic back in 2016 where he suffered a first round Knockout. Alistair also did struggle against Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes but since then has gone 4-1 in his last 5 fights. The now 40 year old Overeem is looking to capture one of the only belts that has eluded him for his entire career, and that is the UFC’s big gold belt. Another dominating performance by Overeem makes a strong case to either face a top 5 heavyweight or to get another title shot. It is obvious that this is possibly the final run of his career and Overeem definitely would like to see himself as the champion before retiring.
Overeem has faced some of the greatest fighters of this generation with names such as Chuck Liddell, Miocic, Dos Santos, and Brock Lesnar just a few of the men he has stood in the Octagon with. Although Overeem has made a career out of power shots the best way to win the bout against a fighter like Volkov is to implement a takedown heavy offense and look for submissions. Volkov being put on his back might not be an easy task but Overeem has shown a strong ground game in recent years and has demonstrated a strong submission game as well, even seen in his fight against Miocic. Overeem looking for either a guillotine or a limb submission could allow for an entertaining fight as Overeem will probably look to strike early but later in the bout grappling might be at the forefront for the final 2 rounds. I discussed Volkov’s precise striking earlier but Overeem is no slouch either; he currently has the highest significant strike accuracy in UFC history at a staggering 74.8% (UFC stats) which means when Overeem hits you, you’re going to feel it and it could be a fight ender.
This heavyweight matchup is something to look forward to this Saturday night and you never truly know what you will see when the Heavyweights are in the Octagon.