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17-06-2011, 01:56
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Posted: Wednesday June 15, 2011 6:05PM ; Updated: Wednesday June 15, 2011 6:05PM
Tim Marchman>INSIDE MMA
More ColumnsEmail Tim Marchman
Overeem looks part, but resume pales compared to reputation
Story Highlights
Alistair Overeem fights Fabricio Werdum on Saturday in Strikeforce's Grand Prix
The Werdum fight will mark Overeem's first really serious fight in four years
The Dutchman is an example of the BJ Penn Fallacy, undeserving of his acclaim
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Ballyhooed heavyweight Alistair Overeem (above), who fights Fabricio Werdum on Saturday, hasn't had a serious fight in years.
AP
Alistair Overeem, who owns about as many heavyweight titles he never defends as he does wins over impressive opponents, is a fraud. At those moments when you are tempted to think that fighting is, for all its bright promise, about the most thoroughly debased sport one can follow, think of this thick rope of Dutch muscle and despair.
This Saturday in Dallas, Overeem will take the first really serious fight he's had in four years, a quarterfinal bout in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. If he beats Fabricio Werdum, it will be, speaking generously, the fourth impressive win in a long career, and the first since 2006. That such things can be said of a man widely, if inexplicably, held to be one of the best heavyweights in the world makes him a fine example of what you might call the B.J. Penn Fallacy.
The Penn Fallacy occurs when a fighter is thought of as top rank despite there being no evidence that he is. It holds theory above practice and style above achievement, and lends support to all promoters who seek to carefully manicure the images of fighters who look or talk a part they can't actually play. It negates the very point of fighting, which is that it is a sport in which a man is wholly accountable for, and judged by, what actually happens in his fights. It is bad, and ought to be done away with.
B.J. Penn deserves to have the fallacy named after him because he is widely thought of as a top welterweight contender despite not having won an important fight in that division since January of 2004, and thought of by many as the uncrowned lightweight champion even though he was thrashed twice by Frankie Edgar, his obvious better, last year. No amount of evidence that Penn is not actually a great fighter will ever convince some large part of the public that he isn't one, because he looks like one, has the physical skills of one, and occasionally does things that a great fighter might do, such as lick an opponent's blood off his gloves. The mere invocation of his name creates a quantum phenomenon, where failures are evidence of superiority and results don't matter.
Similarly, even though there is no real reason to think that Overeem is a top fighter, he is commonly thought of as one. You don't have to ask too many hardcore fans to find one who thinks he ought to get the next shot at the UFC title. You don't have to ask too many more to find someone who thinks he's the best heavyweight alive.
Why is this so? He knocks people out, he has been successful in another sport, he has title belts to wear, and his freakish muscles have muscles of their own to flex. All of this makes him seem like the sort of person who ought to swan around as a great heavyweight. That none of this counts for anything -- that physique doesn't rate in fighting, that a title belt you won by beating a bum and don't defend may as well have been bought on Craigslist, and so on -- doesn't quite seem to matter.
This is bewildering. Overeem has fought 46 times, and has had every opportunity to establish himself as the man. His most impressive wins are a submission of and a decision over Vitor Belfort (himself a great beneficiary of the Penn Fallacy) and a knockout of Sergei Kharitonov. That's it. He spent the majority of his career as a guy good enough to face, but not good enough to beat, real top fighters like Chuck Liddell, Mauricio Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. What made Overeem's reputation coming into the Grand Prix is a win in a K-1 tournament, which is only slightly more relevant than what he might do in a pickup game on a YMCA court, and a string of wins in the last four years against such has-beens as Mark Hunt, Gary Goodridge and Kaz Fuijita and dubious prospects as Brett Rogers and Todd Duffee. In perhaps his toughest test, a fight against a corpse-like Mirko Filopovic in 2008, he distinguished himself mainly by repeatedly striking his opponent in the groin. Imagine a pro basketball player dunking on fossils at old-timer's games for four years and then beating his chest over it while a cheering section proclaims him the best hoopster alive, and you have the last several years of Overeem's career.
All of this has somehow made him the heavy betting favorite over Werdum, a man who for whatever his flaws has already beaten Overeem, in addition to Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Silva and Gabriel Gonzaga, among others.
You have to like style in fighting. It would be wonderful if B.J. Penn were some multidisciplinary dynamo capable of holding down titles in multiple weight classes at once, if Vitor Belfort were a uniquely dangerous tactician equally capable of knocking a man out with championship-caliber boxing or tapping him with deadly secrets learned while taking in the inner mysteries of Gracie jiu-jitsu, and if Alistair Overeem were in fact some deadly Dutch cyborg capable of decapitating championship-level heavyweights at will. All of it might be true; there is no reason to think any of it is. Overeem could well win Saturday. If he does, it would be the first time in years he's given the public a reason to take him seriously.
Tim Marchman can be reached at [email protected].
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Read more: Evidence for Alistair Overeem as top heavyweight is sorely lacking - Tim Marchman - SI.com (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tim_marchman/06/15/overeem/index.html#ixzz1PUDqu9Xc)
EXTRA MUSTARD
FANNATION
PHOTOS
SWIMSUIT
FANTASY
SPORTSMAN
MAGAZINE
SI KIDS
HIGH SCHOOL
BEHIND THE MIC
TWACKLE
NFL
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
MLB
NBA
COLLEGE BB
GOLF
NHL
RACING
SOCCER
MMA & BOXING
TENNIS
MORE
VIDEO
Posted: Wednesday June 15, 2011 6:05PM ; Updated: Wednesday June 15, 2011 6:05PM
Tim Marchman>INSIDE MMA
More ColumnsEmail Tim Marchman
Overeem looks part, but resume pales compared to reputation
Story Highlights
Alistair Overeem fights Fabricio Werdum on Saturday in Strikeforce's Grand Prix
The Werdum fight will mark Overeem's first really serious fight in four years
The Dutchman is an example of the BJ Penn Fallacy, undeserving of his acclaim
PRINT EMAIL FACEBOOK DIGG RSS SHARE
Ballyhooed heavyweight Alistair Overeem (above), who fights Fabricio Werdum on Saturday, hasn't had a serious fight in years.
AP
Alistair Overeem, who owns about as many heavyweight titles he never defends as he does wins over impressive opponents, is a fraud. At those moments when you are tempted to think that fighting is, for all its bright promise, about the most thoroughly debased sport one can follow, think of this thick rope of Dutch muscle and despair.
This Saturday in Dallas, Overeem will take the first really serious fight he's had in four years, a quarterfinal bout in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. If he beats Fabricio Werdum, it will be, speaking generously, the fourth impressive win in a long career, and the first since 2006. That such things can be said of a man widely, if inexplicably, held to be one of the best heavyweights in the world makes him a fine example of what you might call the B.J. Penn Fallacy.
The Penn Fallacy occurs when a fighter is thought of as top rank despite there being no evidence that he is. It holds theory above practice and style above achievement, and lends support to all promoters who seek to carefully manicure the images of fighters who look or talk a part they can't actually play. It negates the very point of fighting, which is that it is a sport in which a man is wholly accountable for, and judged by, what actually happens in his fights. It is bad, and ought to be done away with.
B.J. Penn deserves to have the fallacy named after him because he is widely thought of as a top welterweight contender despite not having won an important fight in that division since January of 2004, and thought of by many as the uncrowned lightweight champion even though he was thrashed twice by Frankie Edgar, his obvious better, last year. No amount of evidence that Penn is not actually a great fighter will ever convince some large part of the public that he isn't one, because he looks like one, has the physical skills of one, and occasionally does things that a great fighter might do, such as lick an opponent's blood off his gloves. The mere invocation of his name creates a quantum phenomenon, where failures are evidence of superiority and results don't matter.
Similarly, even though there is no real reason to think that Overeem is a top fighter, he is commonly thought of as one. You don't have to ask too many hardcore fans to find one who thinks he ought to get the next shot at the UFC title. You don't have to ask too many more to find someone who thinks he's the best heavyweight alive.
Why is this so? He knocks people out, he has been successful in another sport, he has title belts to wear, and his freakish muscles have muscles of their own to flex. All of this makes him seem like the sort of person who ought to swan around as a great heavyweight. That none of this counts for anything -- that physique doesn't rate in fighting, that a title belt you won by beating a bum and don't defend may as well have been bought on Craigslist, and so on -- doesn't quite seem to matter.
This is bewildering. Overeem has fought 46 times, and has had every opportunity to establish himself as the man. His most impressive wins are a submission of and a decision over Vitor Belfort (himself a great beneficiary of the Penn Fallacy) and a knockout of Sergei Kharitonov. That's it. He spent the majority of his career as a guy good enough to face, but not good enough to beat, real top fighters like Chuck Liddell, Mauricio Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. What made Overeem's reputation coming into the Grand Prix is a win in a K-1 tournament, which is only slightly more relevant than what he might do in a pickup game on a YMCA court, and a string of wins in the last four years against such has-beens as Mark Hunt, Gary Goodridge and Kaz Fuijita and dubious prospects as Brett Rogers and Todd Duffee. In perhaps his toughest test, a fight against a corpse-like Mirko Filopovic in 2008, he distinguished himself mainly by repeatedly striking his opponent in the groin. Imagine a pro basketball player dunking on fossils at old-timer's games for four years and then beating his chest over it while a cheering section proclaims him the best hoopster alive, and you have the last several years of Overeem's career.
All of this has somehow made him the heavy betting favorite over Werdum, a man who for whatever his flaws has already beaten Overeem, in addition to Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Silva and Gabriel Gonzaga, among others.
You have to like style in fighting. It would be wonderful if B.J. Penn were some multidisciplinary dynamo capable of holding down titles in multiple weight classes at once, if Vitor Belfort were a uniquely dangerous tactician equally capable of knocking a man out with championship-caliber boxing or tapping him with deadly secrets learned while taking in the inner mysteries of Gracie jiu-jitsu, and if Alistair Overeem were in fact some deadly Dutch cyborg capable of decapitating championship-level heavyweights at will. All of it might be true; there is no reason to think any of it is. Overeem could well win Saturday. If he does, it would be the first time in years he's given the public a reason to take him seriously.
Tim Marchman can be reached at [email protected].
More from SI.com
Latest News
McIlroy's 65 gives him lead at U.S. Open
Fortunate 50: Highest-earning American athletes
McIlroy has first-round lead with 65 at U.S. Open
Video
Bruins end Stanley Cup drought
Faldo: What it will take to win the 2011 U.S. Open
SI Writers
Court Vision: The latest around the league
Julien vindicated by Bruins’ Stanley Cup
Boston left with few options in frontcourt
SI Photos
Top 10 Point Guard Draft Prospects
Championship Parades
SI Vault
Featured Stories
DR. Z: My 2007 NFL Draft report card (4.30.07)
PRICE: Capriati busted with marijuana (5.30.94)
RYAN: Magic-Bird forever changed NBA (12.14.92)
Covers
06.20.11
06.13.11
HOT TOPICS: Vancouver Riots Fortunate 50 U.S. Open Mavs Parade NBA Draft
SUBSCRIBE TO SIDIGITAL EDITIONSI MOBILEJOBSSITE MAPGIVE THE GIFT OF SISI PICTURE SALESPICTURES OF THE DAYABOUT USSI MEDIA KITSSI COVER COLLECTIONSI CUSTOMER SERVICESI BOOKSCONTACT USADD RSS HEADLINE
SI.com is part of Turner - SI Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network. Copyright © 2011 Time Inc. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines and ad choices.
Read more: Evidence for Alistair Overeem as top heavyweight is sorely lacking - Tim Marchman - SI.com (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tim_marchman/06/15/overeem/index.html#ixzz1PUDqu9Xc)