STRIKEFORCE: Heavy Artillery

-Jon Delbrugge- In today’s mainstream MMA we have an oversaturation of the blood splattering, lightning bolt, tribal tattoo designed logo appeal to it. I like how Strikeforce is trying something different they are going for the complete opposite.

Saturday night’s Heavy Artillery card had different audiences, different fighters, different TV deals. The production of the Strikeforce shows go back and forth; the production team at CBS is a little better than Showtime but neither is really able to connect the viewer at home with the electricity of the live crowd. The Heavy Artillery card had a very anti-climactic feel to it. Unfortunately, no matter how good the card or production is, the bad commentary will always serve as a drag on the action by over compensating for the the uneducated fan with wrong information.

Despite the card’s shortcomings, Saturday night was very entertaining. The card featured five televised bouts with the Heavyweight belt on the line in the main event. One thing is clear; in Strikeforce they are going after the highly qualified athlete to ensure good fighters. Not the “bar room brawler” that will “stand up and bang” for “a good fight”.

Heavy Artillery was loaded with talent. Too many times the public is told that certain fighters are “world class” but really they have never competed in a international level event. On the Heavy Artillery card alone Strikeforce Featured real Olympic level athletes competing. Roger Gracie, Jacare De Souza, Vitor Sholin, K-1 Star Allistar Overeem, even Kevin Randleman, although he never reached his full potential as an MMA fighter, has more wrestling credentials than the beloved Randy Couture, who is portrayed as one of the best wrestlers ever. The Strikeforce Organization has without a doubt the fighters with the best credentials, as far as Kickboxing, Wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu goes.

The Fights that stood out:

Overeem vs Rogers- Brett Rogers is very new to MMA and is not yet good at any particular skill set to make him a threat to a highly skilled fighter. Overeem is that highly skilled fighter and it showed Saturday night. Rogers couldn’t get anything started. He could not defend Overeem’s stand up and eventually was thrown on the ground with a school yard headlock throw and pounded into unconsciousness. Although sad for Rogers, Overeem now looks like a legit fight for Fedor.

Alistair Overeem Demolished Brett Rogers

Roger Gracie vs Kevin Randleman- Current IBJFF Black Belt World Champion Roger Gracie made his Strikeforce debut. In the Brazilian Jiu-JItsu community this fight was huge because Roger is truly a representation of BJJ in MMA. Even Bj Penn and Damian Maia don’t even compare to this guy. Although Kevin Randleman is by all accounts out of his prime, he still posed a threat to Gracie. BJJ fighters arent exactly kown for their awesome stand up techniques, but Roger showed that he has been working on his boxing by putting together some very nice combinations even dropping Randleman with a knee and eventually finished the fight with a choke from the back in round 2.

Kevin Randleman in his Collegiate Wrestling Days

Jacare vs Joey Villasenor- Villasenor was on the defense for all three rounds losing a unanimous descision. Jacare looked great for his second fight in a row earning him self a shot at the middleweight title. For the first two rounds Jacare controlled the fight on the feet as well as the ground. Villasenor seemed to gain a little momentum in the third round but he was unable to even steal the round in the judges eyes.

Andrei Arvloski vs Antonio Silva- Everyone was waiting to see if Arvloski was going to go to sleep if he took a hard shot to the chin including Arvloski himself who intentionally took shots directly to his face after the fight saying “I proved I can take shots off my chin” even though he was not knocked out he still lost a one sided fight. Silva rebounded from a loss in November while Arvloski suffers his third L in a row.

Andrei Arlovski in Happier Times

All in all the Mixed Martial Arts community can expect to see some interesting match ups in the near future from this up and coming organization. Heavy Artillery was supposed to be considered a small card but had some big names. Lets hope that Strikeforce does something about the commentating soon so that we can continue to see these athletes fight in front of a large TV audience.

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