UFC Fight Night Rotterdam Preview

This Sunday night the UFC will make its debut in the Netherlands, with a UFC on Fox card held in Rotterdam. Headlining the fight is the biggest name MMA fighter to come out of the country, Alistair Overeem, who’ll be fighting his team mate at Jackson’s MMA, Andrei Arlovski. The two heavyweights who have a combined career length of 34 years, have never met in the cage before, which is surprising considering how many different organisations they have both fought for. Overeem is coming in to this fight on a hot streak, after defeating Junior Dos Santos, Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve in his last three fights, the Dutch fighter will be confident against an opponent in Arlovski who’s last fight saw him get stopped in the first round against Stipe Miocic. It’s hard to see Arlovski winning this fight based on recent performances, throw in the home crowd support for Overeem and it could be a rough night for ‘The Pitbull’.

The co-main event is another heavyweight fight, pitting another Dutch fighter in Stefan Struve against Brazilian Antonio Silva. Coming in to this fight both fighters will be looking to change their recent fortunes in the octagon. Both Struve and Silva are currently 1-3 in their last four fights and are coming in to the fight on the back of losses to Mark Hunt and Jared Rosholt respectively. It’s safe to say that a loss for either fight could see them get their release papers from the UFC, which will hopefully see both fighters come out looking for the finish.

Gunnar Nelson vs. Albert Tumenov could easily turn in to the fight of the night. With Nelson’s karate base and world class Jiu Jitsu pitted against the heavy hands and wrestling of Tumenov, expect this fight to be full of excitement. Tumenov is coming in to this fight with a ton of momentum and will be looking to add Nelson to a list of vanquished foes that include the likes of Lorenz Larkin and Alan Jouban. Nelson on the other hand has gone 1-2 in his last three fights and will be looking to give himself a much needed win to elevate him back up the rankings and a win here would do just that.

Further down the main card, Germaine de Randamie will face UFC newcomer Anna Elmose in a women’s Bantamweight fight. With Randamie the more experienced fighter and fighting in front of her home crowd, it could be considered an upset if Elmose walked away with the win but Elmose has finished all three of her opponents in her career thus far, so she has the ability to put Randamie away but she’s yet to fight a fighter as experienced as Randamie so will be a good litmus test as to where she will fit in at 135lbs.

Nikita Krylov vs. Francimar Barroso is a hard hitting light heavyweight duel between two fighters who love to finish fights. The 24 year old Krylov has only been outside the first round ONCE in his twenty three fight career and every win he has on his record has come within the first round. Barroso shares Krylov’s love of finishes and having only gone to a decision five times in twenty two fights, it’s safe to say that this fight won’t make it out of the first round.

The curtain jerker on the card is a women’s strawweight fight between Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Heather Jo Clark. Kowalkiewicz is coming in to this fight ranked number five in the world at strawweight and undefeated thus far in her career and will be looking to maintain that record against a veteran in Clark. Neither of these fighters are renowned finishers but they are both tough individuals and will be looking to move through the strawweight rankings, although at the end of that road awaits Joanna Jedrzejczyk, so maybe they shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry.

Fights to keep an eye out for on the undercard; Rustam Khabilov v Chris Wade, Yan Cabral v Reza Maddadi and Kyoji Horiguchi v Neil Seery.

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