Alistair Overeem will fight Ricco Rodriguez at Dream 15
Posted on June 30, 2010, 05:15 AM by Anton GurevichAccording to MMAJunkie, Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem will square off against the former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez, at the long-anticipated Dream.15 event on July 10th. The report suggests that Rodriguez will not participate in the Impact FC event on July 18th, where he was originally scheduled to fight Jeff Monson.
The fight against Ricco Rodriguez could be a serious test for Alistair Overeem, as the "Suave" is currently on a 7-fight winning streak, that includes 4 kockouts, 2 submissions and only a one decision. A decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Ricco Rodriguez is currently 42-11 in illustrious his Mixed Martial Arts career.
Dream.15 will be headlined by the Lightweight contest between Tatsuya Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki. Also, Gegard Mousasi will return to MMA for the first time since losing his Strikeforce 205 title to King Mo, against Jake O'Brien, and Melvin Manhoef will face Tatsuya Mizuno.
Full Dream.15 Fight Card:
Lightweight Championship bout: Shinya Aoki (c) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Heavyweight bout: Alistair Overeem vs. Ricco Rodriguez
Lightweight bout: Gesias Cavalcante vs. Katsunori Kikuno
Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round bout: Melvin Manhoef vs. Tatsuya Mizuno
Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round bout: Gegard Mousasi vs. Jake O'Brien
Comments
come on overeem!!
are you kidding me!?
This looks like an awesome card
cant tell if your jking with these brock coments?
I am pretty sure he is mocking ston3poney. It is pretty funny now but I see it going the way of "I don't know" real quick.
Ignorance is bliss! Dude, do you think he is the one that gets to choose who he fights? Comon man..
"I don't know... I don't know"
He is going back there probably because there is nobody to fight right now. He has said this many times that he likes to keep active and that is one of reasons we will probably never see him in the UFC. too bad.
I don't think it's the lack of potential action in the UFC that will prevent him from fighting there. The UFC can, if he wants to Koscheck this, give him at least four fights a year. The problem is they won't also let him fight K-1, and certainly not MMA for another organisation. Alistair likes the mobility he has in not signing exclusive contracts, but considering the UFC is starting to hoard the world's talent, there's not going to be much competition for him left soon.
All of that aside, Go Ricco! Ricco has always been one of my favourite fighters and I will never get over him beating Nogueira at Total Elimination 03 and still being handed the loss. If he hadn't and had been recognised as having beat the second best Heavyweight in the world at the time, who knows what kind of different path his life may have taken, with the drugs and all.
VIVA RODRIGUEZ
They don't "hoard" talent, they pay talent.... The fighters are the ones who seek out a UFC contract 9 times out of 10.
Overeem just wants to make his money. Good for him.
I understand Overeem wants to stay busy, which is smart, but the match up is puzzling, no surprise there. No offense to Ricco because he's been winning for sure. I like to see Overeem fight, period, so it will be on my list to watch.
Yawn!!!! OK this is a boring match up watching a very huge young fighter MAN handle Ricco. Not worth watching.
Overeem is 30 and Ricco is 32.....
Guys...do a little research about Ricco Rodriguez. This guy is a legit opponent.
"Was" a legit opponent. He's currently fighting stiffs once every other week for coke money. This is like Celebrity Rehab all over again - he's got a habit and here comes the intervention...
If they threw a box of Jack Daniels and a bag of coke in the cage with Mark Hunt and Ricco Rodriguez it would be Fight of the Year.
Nice Card
You just showing again you don't now nothing about MMA Ricco Rodriguez nearly beat Big Nog at his prime and TKO Randy at Randys prime.I see that you now the Fake Wrestlers better than MMA fighters
Mokoko pay attention.... Thats not really "Ston3pony" That is some childish person who made the name "Ston3dpony." Take note of the "D" that has been added to the name. That is what people do who cannot match wits with someone and/or have nothing better to do with their time.
Wow... I did not pay attention to this. Banned.
Ricco Rodriguez 7 win streak gona be a good test for Overeem. Musassi on the card loking foward to it
oh boy looking forward to another former ufc guy take down the highly over rated Mouse
I Predict a one sided fight for Overeem really... Ricco winning strak its not that impressive, just look at his opponents... Anyway, I think the big question here is: what implication will this fight have on Strikeforce...? What does this mean? Does the fight with Werdum get postponed so Fedor can have his revenge...? I dont know about this fight guys...
PS - Appart from this fight, the rest of the card its very lame, starting with the championship bout: Aoki is a very lame champion IMO...