Alistair Overeem: “It’s not gonna go to the second round.”

Alistair Overeem Saturday Night

Last weekend UFC fans tuned in to FOX and watched Junior dos Santos stop Cain Velasquez with strikes a little more than a minute into their headlining bout. Come New Year’s Eve weekend, devastating Dutchman Alistair Overeem plans to put on a similar show against another decorated amateur wrestler who once wore the UFC’s heavyweight title around his waist – Brock Lesnar.

Overeem recently gave his thoughts on their main event match-up at UFC 141 where he explained neither man was entering the Octagon with any surprises in store, though in the end he’d be exiting the infamous eight-sided structure with his hand raised and a crack at Dos Santos’ strap in store.

“It’s gonna be a very exciting fight. I think all the fans are watching out for this fight. Brock is coming off a loss and an injury…me, myself, coming off an injury and a victory against (Fabricio) Werdum in the Strikeforce Grand Prix. I think it’s going to be a very interesting match-up,” Overeem began in a conversation with MMAWeekly. “You have the best, strongest wrestling guy…well, the best I wouldn’t say but the strongest…against the strongest at striking. I think it’s pretty straight forward what he’s going to do and I think it’s pretty straight forward what I’m gonna do, and it’s gonna be whose better at forcing his game on the other.”

As far as how he envisions things going on December 30, obviously Overeem favored his own chances but stated his intention to put an exclamation point on the performance.

“It’s not gonna go to the second round. I’m gonna knock him out in the first round.”

Overeem holds an overall record of 35-11 with 33 stoppages including fourteen TKOs and nineteen submissions. Also worth mentioning, “The Demolition Man” hasn’t lost in four years while picking up ten wins plus a K-1 World Grand Prix championship.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE

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MMATraining Take: I have a hard time doubting Overeem on this particular matter. Lesnar is coming off a lengthy layoff and hasn’t faced an opponent with Alistair’s combination of strength, speed, and technique. You’re talking about a guy with more than 6X Lesnar’s in-ring experience who has looked virtually unbeatable for a long time against a dude who struggled at times against a much-smaller Randy Couture, was almost knocked out by Shane Carwin, and got destroyed by Velasquez. Case closed.