How Can Alistair Overeem Ensure a Win Over Augusto Sakai

Kenny Kay September 04, 2020

Alistair Overeem is possibly on one last push for a title shot. At 40 years of age, the UFC gold is still elusive from the resume of the fighting veteran. As he gears up to take on Augusto Sakai this weekend, he can not afford a loss if he wants to make a run at the title. Therefore, we take a look at how Overeem can ensure his win over the Brazilian.

Ever since leaving JacksonWink MMA in 2018, Alistair Overeem has looked like a different fighter. Prior to the shift, he was coming off back-to-back knockout losses against Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes. After moving over to Team Elevation, Overeem is 3-1 in his past four outings.

The lone loss during the four-fight stretch came against Jairzinho Rozenstruik. The latter knocked him out at the eleventh hour of a fight that Overeem was dominating. In his last fight, he overcame adversity and defeated Walt Harris in the second round back in May earlier this year.

Standing in front of him will be Augusto Sakai, a young and upcoming fighter who is looking to make the big jump. There is a paramount gap between the experiences of the two fighters. For instance, Overeem has fought almost four times the number of fights than Sakai in his professional career.

It is this experience that will be the biggest key to success for the Dutch kickboxer. Overeem has always adopted a cautious approach in his fighting. That seems to have been amplified after the shift in camp in 2018. He is carefully picking his shots and he is finding success in doing the same.

Alistair Overeem should try to take the fight to the deep waters

In all aspects of fighting, Overeem looks to be the more skilled in between the two. He is a better overall striker and his ground game along with submissions looks better than Sakai, at least on paper. What can be a potential cause of concern is his susceptible chin along with the knockout ability of Sakai. Hence, Overeem will be in a much better position if he sees off the early rounds.

Alistair-Overeem

This is the first time that Augusto Sakai will feature in a five-round fight. Therefore, there isn’t a lot to bank on regarding his endure. Sakai throws good leg kicks. However, this will probably be the first time he fights someone who is as proficient at checking the leg kicks.

Overeem is also the better fighter as he has more ways to end his opponent. While the Brazilian relies heavily on knockouts, Overeem has tons of submission victories as well.

Even though Overeem is on the decline, he still is the better fighter than Sakai going into the contest. If he manages to survive the initial onslaught, he shouldn’t have a hard time finishing it later on or getting the nod from the judges.

The post How Can Alistair Overeem Ensure a Win Over Augusto Sakai appeared first on EssentiallySports.



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