Clash of the Titans: Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers

Alistair Overeem to face Brett Rogers at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery on May 15, 2010

> Be sure to check out our Strikeforce Heavy Artillery predictions as well as the May 15 Strikeforce results after the fights become official.

Current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion and MMA veteran Alistair Overeem (32-11) will be putting his title on the line Saturday night at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery against the dangerous Brett Rogers (10-1). Overeem is coming into this fight unbeaten in his last eight bouts; more impressively is that he earned each victory by way of KO or submission. Only one of his last eight wins made it to the second round as he has displayed his relentless attack and dominated his opponent from the start of the first round. His explosive striking skills combined with his unrelenting ground game makes him one of the most dangerous heavyweights in MMA.

Although Overeem has accumulated wins over some notable names in the MMA world, when he steps into the cage against Rogers, he may be standing across from his toughest test to date. Rogers began his professional career 10-0 before being handed his only defeat at the hands of the #1 ranked Heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Rogers too brings explosive power into this fight through the use of his vicious hands and knees. Rogers is yet to allow one of his victories to go the distance as he has forcibly stopped each opponent.

Whereas we have seen both men explode at the start of the fight, I think there may be a bit of a feeling out period due to the respect each fighter has for his opponent’s power. They both have more than clearly proved their abilities to end the fight with one punch, so MMA fans are going to see fireworks when these two warriors meet in the center of the cage.

This fight is a huge opportunity for each man to move up the rankings of the Heavyweight division and seek a match against Fedor. According to USA Today, Brett Rogers comes into this fight ranked #8 in the world while Overeem is right behind him at #9. A victory Saturday night can easily propel the winner into the top 5 in the world.

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The tale of the tape for these two fighters is nearly identical. They are closely ranked, and the difference in height, reach and weight is minimal. More importantly, each man has much to lose and much to gain through this fight. Rogers undoubtedly wants another shot at Fedor to extinguish the only loss on his near perfect professional record. On the other hand, Overeem isn’t going to be willing to just relinquish the Heavyweight title he has fought so hard throughout his career to achieve.

By Chris Cella
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer