Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery Picks & Predictions

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery takes place tonight at 10PM ET on Showtime with some interesting fights. The promotion is looking to erase the memory of the live brawl on CBS during its last show and to do so, they need some solid fights out of their heavyweights tonight. Here is my take on the bouts and who I think will win.

Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship – Alistair Overeem (32-11) vs. Brett Rogers (10-1) – Overeem hasn’t fought for Strikeforce since 2007, yet somehow is still their heavyweight champion. Despite the long layoff from the promotion, he has fought overseas a number of times, with his last seven fights ending in the first round and all six wins ending in less than two minutes. Rogers is coming off his first MMA loss, to Fedor Emelianenko last November. The key for him in this fight will be what did he learn from that loss. Overeem likes to attack and end the fight early, as does Rogers, but Overeem has the experience to know not to put himself in a bad position. I think experience pays off in this fight as Overeem is able to defeat Rogers by TKO late in the first.

Heavyweight Bout – Andrei Arlovski (15-7) vs. Antonio Silva (13-2) – Arlovski has fallen on hard times, getting quickly knocked out by Rogers and Fedor in his last two fights. This will be his first bout in nearly a year and he understands the importance of a win, as he has switched up camps and went to Jackson’s MMA and American Kickboxing Academy for training. Silva is a good fighter, but he hasn’t beaten anyone of note in his career. He could land a big punch on Arlovski’s weak chin, but look for the Bela-Russian to work combos and leg kicks to eventually earn a TKO in round three.

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MMA Review for Friday, January 16

BJ PennHere’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

Former UFC heavyweight Jeff Monson was charged with “malicious mischief” after he was photographed spraying an anarchy symbol on the Washington State capitol building. (That’s frowned upon, apparently.) He faces up to ten years in prison.

“UFC Primetime” debuted Wednesday night on Spike TV. The slickly-produced three-part documentary series focuses on the rivalry between lightweight champion BJ Penn and welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, leading up to their superfight on January 31st in Las Vegas.

Exiled from the U.S. because of a steroid charge, Brazilian heavyweight Antonio Silva may soon be fighting Aleksander Emelianenko in Japan. He’s also not the biggest fan of Kimbo Slice.

We’d let sexy jiu-jitsu champion Kyra Gracie choke us out any day.

T-shirt powerhouse Affliction will hold their second MMA show next Saturday in Anaheim, featuring a kick-ass main event. But will anybody be watching?

Newly-crowned UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans may have to defend his belt against former champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson after just a ten-week layoff. It would be the first time in UFC history that two African-American fighters fought for a title.

UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson” goes down tomorrow in Dublin, Ireland. CagePotato.com will be liveblogging the pay-per-view broadcast beginning at 3 p.m. ET. For a preview of the action, check out this rundown of the three marquee matchups, these profiles on the five fighters who will be stepping into the Octagon for the first time, and some helpful betting advice.
Ben vs. Ben: UFC 93 Edition
UFC 93 New Guys
UFC 93 Gambling Addiction Enabler

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