Alistair Overeem earned a big TKO victory over Junior dos Santos tonight in the co-main event of UFC On FOX 17, dropping him with a big left hook late in the second round.
Round One:
The two men circle each other cautiously in the opening 30 seconds…a minute in now and they’ve still not thrown a punch.
Dos Santos with a grazing leg kick. Each time he looks to engage Overeem backs up. Overly cautious approach here. Straight punch from JDS and then Overeem is in reverse gear again. They clash with leg kicks.
JDS goes upstairs with a big head kick, but Overeem saw it coming and blocks. Low leg kick from Overeem. He tries for a straight left, but nothing doing.
Knee to the body from Overeem and JDS lands a counter punch. Straight left for Overeem, but it comes up a bit short again. He lands a leg kick.
90 seconds of the round remaining and he gets a left hand, but not a great connection. More powerful left this time and that was a clean shot. JDS takes it though.
Back to circling each other now. JDS looks more eager to exchange despite now bleeding from his nose, but Overeem is not playing ball. Body kicks from both men. As the round is about to end JDS thinks about a spinning back kick, but Overeem avoids and goes for the back clinch, but there’s not enough time to do anything with it.
Round Two:
Disappointing lack of action in the opening five minutes. Let’s hope it heats up in round two. Unfortunately a Dos Santos kick lands to the groin and so there’s a brief stoppage.
Back to it they go. Leg kick from JDS. Overhand misses for Overeem, but he does land with a leg kick. Dos Santos steps into a solid body kick.
Kick to the knee from Overeem. Now he lands to the body. Another kick from him to the leg as his work rate ups just a little bit.
JDS trying to chase him down, but gets a body kick in return. JDS with a wheel kick attempt, but it doesn’t find the target.
A bit of a lull in the action again then they both throw a punch at the same time but neither connects clean. Solid knee from Dos Santos lands.
leg kick for JDS. Now Overeem responds in kind. Left and then a right for Dos Santos and takes a kick in return. Another leg kick for Overeem. Now to the body with the kick.
Overeem blocks a power punch from Dos Santos. Overeem with a kick. Two punch combo for Overeem seems to weaken the Brazilian’s legs a little and he’s now sporting a cut to his right eye.
Overeem continues to work kicks. Two lefts and a right from JDS. Overeem backs up against the cage as another punch lands to the head, then Junior drills to the body with a flurry of punches. Nice work from him – he needs more of that.
They move away from the cage and Overeem suddenly floors him with a huge left hook. Overeem stands over him and rains down a few hammerfists. JDS slow to react, still dazed from that big hook, but he is trying to stand. However, the ref’s seen enough he’s stopped the fight – Overeem wins by TKO with 4.43mins of the second round gone!
That’s a really big win for Overeem and it’ll be interesting to see what comes next for him as that was the final fight on his current UFC deal and he said pre-fight that he now plans to test his worth on the open market.
As for Dos Santos, he’ll be very disappointed with that performance, he really doesn’t look like the same fighter he was just a few years ago. despite the fact he’s still only 31 years old.
