Alistair Overeem and Ovince Saint Preux each made statements of their own over the weekend. Both men dug their heels in and scored finishes over up and comers.
MMA’s old guard was well represented at UFC on ESPN+ 34.
Alistair Overeem entered Saturday’s main event with 37 more professional MMA bouts than Augusto Sakai. ‘The Demolition Man’ outlasted Sakai’s applauded effort, and experience was the leading reason.
The young Brazilian heavyweight really fought well; especially early, going on to win the opening two rounds on the majority of the judges’ scorecards. He was even able to pierce through Overeem’s nearly impenetrable high guard.
Perhaps the biggest question heading into the fight was if Sakai could excel past 15 minutes, and we received the answer. All three judges scored the fourth round 10-8 in favor of ‘Reem and he earned the finish in the fifth.
Alistair Overeem got a win over Augusto Sakai that was necessary if he intends on fighting for the belt again. If he wishes to fight again fairly soon then a rematch with Jairzinho Rozenstruik should be in order. Otherwise, Derrick Lewis would be a ton of fun if he gets passed Blaydes on Nov. 28th.
Experience would be the difference in the night’s co-main event as well.
Ovince Saint Preux (25-14) dropped Alonzo Menifield (9-2) with a clean counter left hand in round two of the night’s co-main event. OSP came into his 22nd UFC bout as a slight underdog against the talented, but largely unproven Menifield.
Saint Preux was successful early on keeping the fight at his preferred distance while avoiding the brunt of Menifield’s attacks. The young Menifield had a difficult time closing the distance in large part due to OSP’s effective body kicks.
It was obvious to see how Saint Preux was able to fought well at heavyweight versus Rothwell once he seemed to tower over his opponent this weekend.
OSP displayed great patience as usual while he searched for his opportunity, which he found about a minute into the second round. A counter left hand found Menifield’s chin, buckling him to the canvas.
Both Alistair Overeem and Ovince Saint Preux are mixed martial arts’ OG’s and they proved that they can still compete at extremely high levels this past weekend.
Both guys seemed interested in making quick turnarounds so be on the look out.
