Alistair Overeem sends Brock Lesnar into retirement
Brock Lesnar ends his MMA career with five wins and three losses.
The UFC 141 fight card saw Nate Diaz batter Donald Cerrone in a 15-minute brawl and Alistair Overeem beat Brock Lesnar into retirement in only 2½ minutes.
The Overeem versus Lesnar fiasco was hyped up as an epic clash of titans. The only thing epic was the ease and quickness of the beat down delivered by Mr. Overeem.
Alistair Overeem blasted the former champ with a liver kick. Photo: Joe Corrigan/Getty Images
Lesnar didn’t even come close to taking down Overeem (although he did cut the former K-1 fighter with a jab early in the fight). In short order, Overeem had Lesnar where he wanted him and blasted him with a liver kick ala Bas Rutten. The former NCAA Division I wrestler crumbled to the mat, turtled up and the fight was stopped moments later after some ground and pound.
After suffering the embarrassing defeat, Lesnar retired right there on the spot during the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
Fortunately, there were other moments from this fight card that were entertaining. There was a lot of anticipation for the Nate Diaz versus Donald Cerrone fight due to the fact that the two gents had a pre-fight scuffle in which Diaz pushed “Cowboy” and knocked off his cowboy hat.
Cerrone responded by flipping off Diaz when the fight started. Unfortunately, that was likely Cerrone’s high point of the night. He was beaten to the punch throughout as Diaz put on an incredible boxing clinic. To his credit, Cerrone never quit and tried his darndest to counter (including some great leg sweeps to which Diaz had no answer).
After the fight Diaz shook Cerrone’s hand and the two briefly embraced, showing that Nate may act questionable at times, but he can still be respectful. The bout received “Fight of the Night” honors.
Jacob Volkmann smothered Efrain Escudero with great top-control, but nearly got submitted in the final moments of the third round.
Escudero adjusted the choke multiple times, but Volkmann managed to somehow stay conscious and eventually earn the decision victory.
Korean grappling ace Dong Hyun Kim decided to duke it out with Canadian Sean Pierson before landing a Machida-like crane kick which nearly knocked him out.
Jim Hettes gave us the most one-sided beat down with his win over Nam Phan. Two judges scored the fight 30-25. Hettes dominated with slick, forceful grappling for the entire 15 minutes in a fight that made Hettes an instant “next big thing” in the featherweight division.
Alexander Gustafsson made short work of veteran fighter Vladimir Matyushenko. He hit the Bulgarian with a jab that instantly sent him to the canvas and forced him to turtle up. The fight was stopped shortly after.
The people who dislike Jon Fitch because he puts on “boring” fights didn’t need to worry—he was only in the cage for 12 seconds. That’s how long it took for Johnny Hendricks to knock out the unpopular Fitch, no doubt sending him even further down in the rankings.
