Dutchmen on Display in Rotterdam
The UFC’s first card in the Netherlands was a big one as a big fight nation got to see their first UFC event.
Making it more interesting was the fact that two of the biggest Dutch fighters were set to head up the card in Stefan Struve and Alistair Overeem.
Being from the same country was not the only similarity between the two though as they had started their careers in the Netherlands only to move to the USA to train.
It is a bit of a pattern for European fighters as they often reach a limit training in their home countries and have to find a better MMA gym.
It happens to be that the majority of those MMA gyms are in North America where the sport is still the most popular throughout the world.
There are new gyms created all the time from top UFC fighters that provide more well-rounded training.
In Europe the training is good but it has not yet become a pure MMA place as often there is a concentration on one discipline.
The fighters that come out of those camps are great at that discipline but can sometimes lack the other tools that make someone a champion.
To get those other tools many European fighters move to the USA or at least move a camp or two overseas where they can get that well-rounded training.
Stefan Struve is one of the most recent European fighters to make the move as he just joined the Blackzillians in Florida a few months ago.
Prior to his co-main event at UFC Fight Night 87, Struve made the move and is now training in one of the top gyms in MMA.
After spending years in the Netherlands developing his kickboxing he looked to the USA to find a bigger balance and tried to prove the decision was right against Antonio Silva.
It was set to be a fight between two of the biggest heavyweights in the UFC with Struve standing 7’0” and weighing in around 265 lbs while Silva stands at 6’4” and weighing in around 265 lbs it was a big matchup.
Struve was hoping that his new training camp was going to improve his all-around game and make him an overall better athlete.
Both fighters came into the fight hoping to gain some momentum after a tough few years as Struve wasn’t ranked heading into the fight and Silva was just inside the top 15.
Both fighters were prepared to stay standing and they showed that immediately as Silva came forward right away.
That turned out to be a bad move though as Struve quickly countered with a big right hook that sent Silva to the ground.
Despite his attempt to stay alive in the fight and wrestle Struve, Silva couldn’t keep going and after he started to take elbows in his attempt to wrestle it was clear that the fight was over.
Struve took the TKO win and will likely find his way back to the rankings while Silva took another loss in what is becoming a bad trend.
The other big name on the night made the move across the Atlantic earlier than Struve as Overeem had been training with Jackson-Wink MMA for the last few years.
As one of the biggest name heavyweights in MMA, Overeem had always been a great striker with his kickboxing background.
After his issues with PEDs though he could no longer rely on his sheer size to bully opponents into a stand-up battle.
He began working with Jackson-Wink, considered one of if not the best gyms in the world, to round out his game and become a better fighter.
Now he was set to fight in front of a home crowd against another European fighter that made the move to Jackson-Wink in Andrei Arlovski.
The two teammates were perfect examples of the type of training happening in North America as they had entered the fight after some good stretches.
Overeem had won three in a row while Arlovski had won four of his last five fights making both of them top ranked heavyweights in the UFC.
With their new training at Jackson-Wink, they have been on a crash course to face each other and eventually fight for a title.
Whoever took this teammate match-up was likely going to be next in line or at least very close to a title shot after Fabricio Werdum defends his title later this month.
It was another fight with two men will to stand and throw punches until they found out who could last longer.
After taking an initial barrage Overeem decided to take the fight in a different direction though shooting on Arlovski and putting him on the ground.
In the second round, Overeem didn’t go for the takedown again, this time, throwing his kickboxing into a higher gear.
Eventually, he landed a big crane kick to the chin of Arlovski and followed up with a left hook that sent Arlovski to the mat.
Overeem took the TKO win and is looking to next week’s title fight to see his next opponent as he hopes to get a title shot from the win.
Arlovski took his second loss in a row as his comeback has been cut down with little time left for him to make another run.
Despite the fact that both Struve and Overeem left the Netherlands to train they came back as fan favourites and they made sure the fans got their money’s worth.
The home fighters took big wins in the heavyweight division as the world got to see just how big of a fighting country the Netherlands really his.
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