Preview: UFC Fight Night ‘Overeem vs. Arlovski’

The paths of two of MMA’s most accomplished heavyweight will soon converge. Former Dream and Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem will meet onetime Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Andrei Arlovski in the UFC Fight Night 87 main event on Sunday at Ahoy Rotterdam in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In the co-headliner, Antonio Silva squares off with Stefan Struve in a battle between two struggling big men. Scattered across the rest of the lineup are a few gems, including a welterweight showdown pitting Albert Tumenov against Gunnar Nelson and a light heavyweight clash pairing Nikita Krylov with Francimar Barroso. Let us take a closer look at each UFC Fight Night “Overeem vs. Arlovski” matchup, with analysis and picks:Heavyweights Alistair Overeem (40-14) vs. Andrei Arlovski (25-11)THE MATCHUP: At 36 and 37 years of age, respectively, Overeem and Arlovski have been around long enough to know for certain what works best for them. They have finished plenty of opponents — 36 for Overeem, 20 for Arlovski — and been finished plenty of times in return — 11 for Overeem, eight for Arlovski. On the surface, those numbers suggest either man could finish this fight at any given moment, and that is true; however, they also give a sense of the wealth of valuable, if not always pleasant, experience at each fighter’s disposal. How they have implemented that experience, however, is where these men differ. Arlovski is something of a minimalist nowadays. Aside from …

continue reading in source www.sherdog.com