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In a follow up to my article looking at Overeem's K-1 run, as part of my holiday relax time I will be exploring how that striking acumen translates to MMA.

Sergei Kharitonov, Badr Hari, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Antonio "Rogerio" Nogueira, Bobby Hoffman, Errol Parris, Glaube Feitosa, and Chuck Liddel. What do they all have in common? Well they are all fighters, some MMA, some kickboxers, of varying ages and talent levels.

And they have all knocked out Alistair Overeem.

Add to that Ricardo Arona's submission (strikes) stoppage and the fact that Shogun has finished the Reem twice and we are dealing with a fighter who had been stopped by strikes ten times. To put that into perspective, that is the same number of times Jonathan Goulet has been stopped by strikes. It is twice as many times as Wanderlei Silva.

Obviously it is more complicated than that. Some of those stoppages have more to do with Overeem's cardio than his ability to take a punch. It isn't like that list has a lot of pillowfists on it either. Additionally, only two of the ten, Hari and Kharitonov, have happened since Overeem's move to heavyweight. Indeed, it is fairly well documented that neck muscles are among the most important factors in the ability to take a punch, because they stop the head from moving backward so suddenly when hit. It is perfectly reasonable to say that Overeem has improved his ability to take a punch by bulking up.

We'll discuss why we should remain concerned and how this will impact Overeem's striking game with gifs and fight videos after the jump.

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Merry Christmas everyone!

Alistair Overeem is a top 5 heavyweight in MMA, but most of the hype surrounding his entry into the UFC and fight with Brock Lesnar doesn't have much to do with MMA at all. Ubereem's most relevant win in MMA was a lackluster snoozefest over Werdum, followed close behind by a shellacking of model citizen Brett Rogers.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't get excited about Overeem's impending entry into the the world's number one promotion, because of another sport: Kickboxing. Whether or not Overeem's K-1 career will translate into MMA striking success remains to be seen, but that doesn't mean his phenomenal run shouldn't be celebrated. If you haven't caught his K-1 exploits, now is the time to do so. After the jump you can find all of Overeem's recent K-1 fights and a little context to help you better understand the drama behind them.

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With Melvin Guillard speculating about the possibility here, I thought I would make the case for a Grand Prix actually happening at 155. For a lot of fans this is just a neat thing to think about, but not close to reality at all. Would the UFC risk hyping a tournament to have it hamstrung by injuries? Would they give up match making control to the whim of the brackets? Conventional wisdom says of course not.

But sure they would, if it was profitable enough. With the heavyweight tournament drawing record ratings both times the idea has certainly caught Zuffa's attention. Could the words "tournament" after "ufc" turn into a sensation? Its worth the risk. Trying something like this in a marquee division like heavyweight or light heavyweight would be a waste of match making that could drive cards. Middleweight and welterweight are stagnant and could result in an unfortunate title fight (think maia v silva 2, or gsp v sheilds/fitch 2 or penn 3). Bantamweight and Featherweight don't have enough names for even fans who carefully follow the sport to recognise. Lightweight is perfect. There are a lot of guys walking around with a lot of wins. People with legitimate claims at a title shot, but not overwhelming claims. There are like half a dozen guys at 155 who have recent records in the UFC that would have gotten them middleweight title shots twice by now.

I think most people would agree that a 155 tournament would build massive hype and would be worthwhile if it could off without a hitch. Feasibility is always the big question, and Joe Silva could have set himself up for an ace-in-the-hole match making coupe with this one.

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With the WEC merger there has been alot of talk about top pound for pound fighter and now inaugural UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, so I thought it would be a good time to bring up an interesting question: just how good is Jose Aldo's ground game?

The prevailing wisdom is that it is amazing. It is actually quite common for commentators to say that Aldo's ground game is "apparently" better than his stand-up, including the respected Joe Rogan. The problem is that the phenomal Aldo is just so good at striking that he rarely gets the opportunity to showcase his ground skills.

Jose Aldo in the Aldo vs Faber preview:

My goal is to entertain the fans. I could easily take all my opponents down and submit them, but the fans love to see knock outs and I'm only where I am now because of the fans.

There is definitely some evidence that Aldo is no slouch on the ground. For one, he is a Nova Uniao black belt in BJJ, which is definitely one of the more legitimate black belts you can get. More importantly, he is a world Jiu Jitsu champion in the brown belt category, and holds a grappling win over top BJJ champ Rubens Charles "Cobrinha".

However, that Aldo's ground skills translate to MMA or any no-gi competition is completely unproven. His fights actually seem to suggest the opposite. Is Aldo's ground game better than even his striking? I'm not convinced.
 

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BJ Penn is one of the biggest names in mma. Saturday afternoon it seemed like his clearing out of the lightweight division was not only probable, but inevitable. Reading through the Bloody Elbow staff picks is assertion after assertion that not only did Penn win the first fight, but the second one was going to be destruction. Losing twice to Frankie puts a legendary name and huge draw in an awkward position. Matchmaking for him is going to be harder than it was with Machida. Yet an opportunity for Zuffa exists to still make a killing on Penn: a move to 145.

During Penn's aura of invincibility in December of 2009 Michael Rome wrote an interesting article (http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/12/13/1199016/if-bj-penn-wants-multiple-titles) about 145 being a better option to pick up a second belt. It is hard not to salivate at Penn vs Aldo, or similar super fights. Joe Rogan has gone on record saying that BJ could probably make featherweight pretty easily. If a move to 145 was relevant when Penn had the belt at 155, then it must be much more relevant now that his path back to that belt seems problematic at best.

Furthermore, a big name like BJ Penn will the 145 division exactly the exposure it needs to go mainstream. Does anyone remember the biggest WEC fight ever before Aldo vs Faber? It was "undefeated at 145 UFC legend" Jens Pulver. If a shot Pulver is marketable among the little guys, we can be confident Penn could draw in large numbers. There is, at the very least, some money making superfights to be made at featherweight.

But the timing seems right for something more: a complete incorporation of the 145 division into the UFC. Having someone like Penn in the mix could really bring some credibility to the division so the Zuffa marketing machine could go to work properly. An upcoming lightweight ultimate fighter cast could produce some prospects for the division, as many fighters enter TUF higher than their natural weight class. The only other all lightweight Ultimate Fighter (five) produced the current number one contender at featherweight Manny Gamburyan. Another TUF 5 graduate in Cole Miller, as well as an underperforming Tyson Griffin, could easily make the drop.

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