A heavyweight fight between Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt opened the UFC 209 Main Card. Fans were expecting a knockout, and they were not disappointed.
Overeem implemented the game plan that everybody thought he would, stayed on the outside, and picked Mark Hunt off from range. He took the first round clearly, and was never in trouble. It was an easy round to score, with Overeem winning 10-9 on my cards.
The second round got a little bit more complicated, though. Although Overeem continued to execute his game plan, Hunt began to counter and used the right elbow very well to hurt “The Reem” on more than one occasion. The Dutchman was never in serious trouble, but was definitely hurt at points. Even with Hunt landing a few hurtful shots, Overeem still took the second.
The third round started, and it was, for me at least, interesting to see how Alistair Overeem’s cardio held up. His two biggest weaknesses of late have been his cardio and his chin. The chin had been tested and had held up quite well, but there was still questions about his cardio. As it turns out, we never got to see too much of it, as he clinched with Hunt early in the third, and landed two thunderous knees that folded the Australian and caused him to thud face first into the canvas.
