Never underestimate your opponent in MMA, even when he is a 160 pound foreign journalist. Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem did just that, and was quickly taken down by Polish journalist Antoni Bohdanowicz in a moment the champ likely wishes wasn’t on video.
[adinserter block=”1″]This is the reason why you don’t want to spar with a journalist if you are an MMA fighter. Every once in awhile just by luck you may wind up in there with a ringer. I don’t know whether Antoni was a ringer or not but he certainly showed no fear when he locked up with the K1 and Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem.
The sparring session came during a recent interview with Overeem for Orange Sport. The interview went as most do with the typical questions but changed drastically at the 0:35 mark. Bohdanowicz tells Overeem that he had a conversation with his crew on the way over and asked to see how quickly Overeem could “knock him over.” Overeem responds with a smrik, “Do you want to get punched?” Bohdanowicz says no but then agrees to some form of striking. Game on!
It gets incredibly bizarre from here. Overeem takes the first shot by playfully punching the journalist in the gut but then something happens. The journalist locks Overeem’s arm, grabs his shirt, wraps his other arm around Overeem’s waist, and starts grappling with the champion. Overeem was still smiles at this point but that didn’t last long. After a few seconds of struggling, the journalist TAKES DOWN OVEREEM! This is something to be seen.
[adinserter block=”1″]As you could imagine Overeem wasn’t happy and once he realized playtime was over, this sparring session got a lot more real for Bohdanowicz. Overeem popped right up and started landing strikes at Bohdanowicz. Overeem appeared to take it easy but the journalist kept coming. Once Overeem started putting a dash of mustard behind those punches, the journalist backed off, and the two hugged ending the sparring session.
Anyway watch the video and see for yourself what happens when you take your opponent lightly in a sparring session. Considering the fact that this journalist is about a quarter the size of Antonio Silva, I’d recommend staying away from grappling with Big Foot if I were the Demolition Man in their upcoming Grand Prix fight.
Thanks to D Wizzle’s Word for the tip!
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