The Weekly Wrap: May 15 - May 21

The Weekly Wrap walks readers through the last seven days in MMA, recapping and putting into context the week's top story, important news and notable quotes.

Top Story

In his first stateside fight in 30 months, Alistair Overeem re-staked his claim atop Strikeforce's heavyweight division on May 15 in a fashion that drummed up interest in a fight against Fedor Emelianenko, a bout the promotion has eyed as a pay-per-view attraction.

Overeem, who won Strikeforce's heavyweight title in November 2007, before the promotion had a Showtime/CBS television deal, looked much more dominant against Brett Rogers than Emelianenko did against the same opponent in November 2009. He used a pivoting push/sweep to put Rogers on the mat, and then took side mount. The Dutchman peppered Rogers with body knees and swarmed him with punches for the 3:40 TKO. Overeem landed 54 strikes in the fight compared to Rogers' one, according to CompuStrike.

Overeem seized the spotlight to call out Emelianenko in his post-fight interview, saying Emelianenko's management had declined to fight him on the card. M-1 Global official Evgeni Kogan told MMAJunkie.com if Strikeforce wants an Emelianenko vs. Overeem fight, it will happen. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has said he thinks Emelianenko vs. Overeem is a bout that he’d like to do on pay-per-view. Emelianenko first faces Fabricio Werdum on June 26, though, while Overeem is being promoted as fighting on Dream 15 on July 10 in Japan against an opponent yet to be announced.

While the performance galvanized interest in Overeem’s next move, it appears relatively few people saw it. The broadcast drew an average of 308,000 viewers on Showtime, peaking at 448,000 viewers for the main event, MMAJunkie.com reported. The number is the second lowest audience Strikeforce has done on Showtime for non-Challengers events (the June 2009 Lawler vs. Shields event drew an average 275,000 viewers). The broadcast was competing with a two-hour Spike TV special featuring the first free airings of several UFC pay-per-view fights. That special drew 894,000 average viewers. Spike is available in eight times more households than Showtime.

A hot topic in the run-up to the fight revolved around steroids and whether they played a role in Overeem’s physique enhancement and long absence from U.S. competition. Strikeforce conducted independent in-house testing because Missouri's athletic commission only tested a limited number of fighters drawn at random. Sherdog.com reported Friday that Overeem had tested negative for anabolic steroids and drugs of abuse. Results for other fighters were still pending at week’s end.

Another step Strikeforce took before the event was designed to prevent another in-cage brawl like the one that tainted the promotion’s last outing April 17 on CBS. The promotion instituted a policy that only allows one corner man, one cut man and one translator into the cage after fights, SI.com reported.

Strikeforce "Heavy Artillery" attracted 8,136 spectators to the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, down slightly from the 8,867 the promotion attracted for its June 2009 card in the same building. Scott Coker told MMAjunkie.com that as much as 20 percent of the tickets were sold by undercard fighter and local kickboxing notable Jesse Finney, who sold tickets to St. Louis-area students and friends and attracted local media attention. Finney saw action on the preliminary card, using a guillotine choke to submit Justin DeMoney.

Andrei Arlovski struggled to put effective punching combinations together in losing to Antonio Silva via decision, his third straight loss. Arlovski, who received the biggest ovation of the night from the live crowd, said his game plan of throwing straight punches and moving right wasn't sufficient, and said he needs to add more combinations. Silva took the unanimous decision landing damaging punches that rung Arlovski's bell, but didn't make manifest the chin issues ascribed to the Belarusian after recent losses.

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza used a series of power double-leg takedowns to take a game Joey Villasenor out of his element. Souza, though, didn't threaten much with his trademark jiu-jitsu, losing a few dominant positions to Villasenor's reversals. Souza took the unanimous decision with two 29-28 scorecards and one 30-27 tally.

With the expected Strikeforce departure of middleweight champion Jake Shields, Souza enters a fray of 185-pound title contenders in the promotion. Sherdog.com reported that Strikeforce has eyes toward making a series of fights designed to crown a new champion in November or December. Eligible fighters include Souza, Robbie Lawler, Dan Henderson, Jason Miller, Tim Kennedy and Luke Rockhold.

Also at “Heavy Artillery,” light heavyweights Roger Gracie and Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante separated themselves from the pack with resounding finishes. Feijao took out wrestler Antwain Britt with a flurry of punches for a first-round knockout, and Gracie managed to outstrike and then submit Kevin Randleman with a rear-naked choke in his third professional fight.

In the most significant undercard fight of the night, Lyle Beerbohm extended to 14-0 his career undefeated streak by taking a close split decision over veteran Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro. Beerbohm narrowly avoided myriad submission attempts from Ribeiro and apparently held top position long enough to sway the judges, who rendered 30-27, 28-29 and 29-28 scorecards. Ribeiro told Tatame.com that he will appeal the outcome because he doesn’t think he conceivably lost the fight. Strikeforce streamed the bout on its Web site.

"Heavy Artillery" was the first of four events Strikeforce will stage in the next seven weeks. A "Challengers" card headlined by Matt Lindland is set for Portland, Ore., on Friday; a Wednesday night "Los Angeles" card headlined by Robbie Lawler vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral and featuring Bobby Lashley takes place June 16, head-to-head with the season finale of "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV; and "Fedor vs. Werdum" goes off June 26 in San Jose, Calif.

It was announced this week that the June 26 card will also feature Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos defending her title against Jan Finney and a rematch between K.J. Noons and the notorious Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett.