Alistair Overeem, the Real Deal?

Allistair Overeem made it look easy. The Strikeforce Mixed Martial Arts Heavyweight Champion
put on an exhibition to the American audience watching on the Showtime network as he
scored a first round technical knock out of American Heavyweight, Brett "The Grim" Rogers. The
Dutch fighter with the nickname, "Demolition Man" improved his Mixed Martial Arts record to 33 wins,
11 losses and one no contest. Prior to the bout, Rogers had a 10-1 record with all of his wins coming
from either knockouts or submissions. His only loss, was a second round knockout by Russian
Heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. The latter is widely regarded as the best heavyweight Mixed Martial
Artist in the world. Rogers broke the Russian's nose in their fight and had him in trouble several times
before getting caught with an overhand right.

Rogers look scared and hesitant in his fight with Overeem. He barely landed any punches and once
he was knocked to the ground, Overeem patiently waited for an opening and pounded out a victory.
Overeem looked calm, cool and dictated the way the battle would go. When he was interviewed after the fight, "The Demolition Man" called out Fedor, claiming the latter's management team would not agree to a fight. Interestingly enough, Fedor's next opponent Fabricio Werdum defeated Overeem four years prior via submission.

Since his jump to Heavyweight, Overeem had put on a lot of muscle weight which has been a subject of controversy. There have been rumors of steroid usage. Overeem seems to have improved his record as a heavyweight abandoning the light-heavyweight class of 205 pounds. He has fought and lost to such fighters as current UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Chuck Lidell and Pride fighting standout Ricardo Arona. He also holds two victories over former UFC champion Vitor Belfort.

With the exception of Rogers, his last ten fights have been against fighters past their primes which includes a no contest against the once fearsome Mirko "Cro Cop" Filopvic. Overeem won all but two of those fights. Question is, Can he beat Fedor? The answer is, probably not. Despite his power and excellent kickboxing skills, Overeem still has a chin of a light-heavyweight. Even though he has fought excellent competition. Fedor's list of victims are bigger names. They have had common opponents besides Rogers, and Both have beaten Gary Goodridge and Kazayuki Fujita. Fedor even has close win over Ricardo Arona.

Assuming Fedor gets by Fabricio Werdum, which will probably happen, I expect a matchup between the two with
Overeem dominating the fight until Fedor finds an opening and knocks out "The Demolition Man." But then again, in the world of Mixed Martial Arts, nothing is a given. If Overeem fights like he did against Brett Rogers, than an upset is possible.