Thoughts & Shots From UFC Fight Night ‘Overeem vs. Arlovski’

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.Alistair Overeem, Stefan Struve and Germaine de Randamie on Sunday dazzled their countrymen in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first-ever event in the Netherlands. All three favorites finished their fights in impressive fashion, following a main-card trend that saw the last five bouts end before the allotted time. It was a solid opening effort for the promotion in the nation famous for its kickboxers.Overeem Still Behind Velasquez in Pecking Order Overeem survived an early barrage from Jackson-Wink MMA teammate Andrei Arlovski before rallying to bank the first round on all three judges’ scorecards. While it may not have been the most awe-inspiring performance, Overeem overcame a shaky start and a noticeable cardio slowdown to pound a high kick to the face of his opponent before finishing him with strikes on the ground. Overeem’s post-fight comments centered on his getting the next title shot against the winner of the UFC 198 main event between heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum and Stipe Miocic. Maybe he has some inside information from UFC brass telling him he is next in line, but I would hazard a guess that Overeem is just posturing and trying to position himself ahead of likely challenger Cain Velasquez, who is slated to fight Travis Browne at UFC 200. The UFC title is one of the few things missing from Overeem’s trophy case, so it would be a shame if he didn’t get a crack at it. However, I don’t see how a win over Arlovski suddenly vaults him to the front of the line. I get that his win over Junior dos Santos looks a whole lot better since the Brazilian waxed Ben Rothwell, but Velasquez’s resume is much stronger, in my opinion. An upset win by Miocic could help Overeem’s cause, though. Werdum isn’t exactly known for wanting to fight every couple months. He seems to relish his …

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