At UFC 156, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva had an impressive come from behind KO of heavyweight striking savant Alistair Overeem. Bigfoot was a considerable underdog and his victory derailed the title aspirations of Overeem. I, however, am not convinced that Bigfoot deserves the amount of credit he is getting for defeating "The Reem." I am not trying to say he did not earn his victory honestly, but simply that he did not devastate, destroy, mangle, or whatever other buzzword that has been thrown around since Silva's performance at UFC 156. I will argue that the most logical step for Bigfoot is to rematch Overeem sometime this summer.

I cannot stand Alistair Overeem for many reasons, but chief among them is his cockiness that leads to overconfidence in his abilities. I believe his ego was the reason for his downfall at UFC 156 not necessarily that Bigfoot was the more skilled fighter. Throughout the fight it was clear Overeem dominated Bigfoot for the first two rounds, in a very boring fashion I might add, showing absolutely no respect for the striking of Bigfoot. I would heartily agree with the assessment that Alistair's striking is light years ahead of Silva's, but this was a heavyweight bout.

In the heavyweight division, the fact that every fighter in that division is massive is somewhat of a striking equalizer. One flush punch to the face by any heavyweight to another will more than likely put the punchee to sleep (see Mike Russow vs Todd Duffee). During the fight, Overeem did not protect his face at all when the fight was standing opting instead to keep his hands low and search for the highlight KO, which ultimately turned the first two rounds into a boring clinchfest with occasional ground action. If Overeem had not gotten cocky and defended Silva's strikes like I know he knows how to do then Overeem would have won a boring decision and earned himself a shot at the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Instead, Overeem tried toying with a man who has hands the sizes of an average human's head. When Silva landed, it was all over because Overeem took a massive hand to the jaw, which is undefendable no matter the striking pedigree of the fighter.

I do not believe Bigfoot truly validated himself as a threat in the heavyweight division besides the fact that he displayed power, which is something nearly all heavyweights possess despite their skill at striking. If Silva could repeat his performance against Overeem then I would be sold on his legitimacy as a title contender. I honestly believe that Overeem is a far more skilled and athletically gifted fighter than Antonio Silva, even when Overeem is not on the juice. The first two rounds of their fight proved this. If I were Alistair I would be clamoring for a rematch because I believe Silva loses 9 out of 10 times to Overeem. I also, hope Overeem learns a lesson about respecting the power of the heavyweight division even when you are clearly the better striker because if he does not then Silva will not be the last person to pull an upset on "The Reem."

I know many may disagree with me on this and I do hope mt fellow maniacs will provide a critical analysis of my argument.