Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament Features Old-School MMA Archetypes

A comparison between the heavyweights in tonight's installment of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix and some of the greatest MMA pioneers of the 1990s.

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Jun 18, 2011 - We often speak of the "modern era" of MMA in a confident, off-hand manner as if everything in today's sport has changed from the early days of 1990's MMA. We talk about cross-training, a "new generation of athletes" raised on MMA who don't have a native style, etc. etc.
Despite all that, the reality, as evidenced by Saturday's Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, is that things haven't really changed all that much. In the old days of MMA there were a few styles that worked -- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Dutch kickboxing, American catch wrestling by way of Japan, Russian Sambo and good old fashioned brawling.
Looking at Saturday's two quarter-final bouts, exponents of four of those styles will be making a case for supremacy, the Russians all fought in the February installment. Let's look at how the fighters break down.
Alistair OvereemStyle: Dutch Kickboxing
1990s Analogue: Bas Rutten
Holland is a tiny country that's had an outsize impact on combat sports. Starting with the gangster-kickboxer Jan Plas who trained Japanese Kyokushin Karate and brought modern kickboxing to Holland in 1978 with the opening of his Meijiro Gym in Amsterdam. Plas' student Rob Kamen added a big helping of Muay Thai to his repertoire and became one of the greatest kickboxers of all time.
The Japanese pro-wrestlers who created the proto-MMA events like Pancrase, Shooto and Rings paid close attention and recruited many Dutch fighters to compete in their promotions. None more successfully than the legendary Bas Rutten who became the King of Pancrase and later the UFC heavyweight champion. Rutten pioneered the template that Dutch fighters have followed ever since: devastating Muay Thai/Kyokushin striking combined with effective submission grappling.
Alistair Overeem is currently the most fearsome living exponent of that style. He's the first fighter to hold a major MMA title and the K-1 kickboxing championship at the same time. He's got excellent striking technique, awesome power and the submission skills to finish a stunned opponent with a nice range of holds.