THE RUN DOWN

Well, after being out of commission for a short while I ought to catch up on what happened.

Alistair Overeem just ran right through the challenger, Brett Rogers. I'm not sure how Strikeforce gets the nerve to offer him a title shot after being trounced by Fedor. Overeem however, silenced his critics by assaulting "Grim" with leg kicks and strong ground and pound, all while passing his drug tests with flying colors.

Overeem is now set up to fight the winner of the June Fedor/Werdum showdown. The Fedor/Overeem heavy weight title fight would be great. I think Overeem is the most well-equipped to beat "The Last Emperor" but that still doesn't make him the favorite.

In other Strikeforce: St. Louis news, Andre Arlovksi looked slow and tired against Antonio "Big Foot" Silva. Not a great outing from "The Pitbull" but a nice win to put on the resume for Silva.

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza soundly dispatched Joey Villasenor by Unanimous Decision using dominant takedowns and position wrestling to lock up the victory.

Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante raised a few eyebrows with a devastating knockout of Antwain Britt. "Feijao" remained calm until he tagged Britt with a right hook and followed with a powerful left jab. A nice combination against the fence and Britt was left unconscious against the cage.

Another X-Team member, Vitor "Shaolin" Riberio had victory snatched from his hands, losing a controversial split decision to Lyle Beerbrohm. While I don't necessarily agree with the way MMA is scored, it isn't out of the question that Beerbrohm's wrestling gave him the win. Riberio and his camp plan to appeal the loss.

Roger Gracie made quick work of an aging Monster, Kevin Randleman. Randleman didn't have a chance in this one, as Gracie peppered him with long, straight punches on the outside. The finish came by Rear Choke in the first round. By the time Gracie let go of the choke, Randleman had gone out.

Joe Soto, Dan Hornbuckle both looked fantastic in their last outings with Bellator. Soto stopped a game Diego Saraiva in the first round via TKO. Soto landed a hard elbow in the final minute that opened a large cut on Saravia's forehead, which brought the fight to an end.

Dan Hornbuckle showed excellent technique locking up a kimura from the guard and transitioning to the mount while still holding the arm lock. Submission of the year candidacy may be a little early but the Hornbuckle/Askren final will surely be entertaining.

SHINE fights had the plug pulled on their third event, thanks in part to Don King. Ricardo Mayorga, who was under contract with King, was set to face Din Thomas, but when King took matters to court, the entire event was shut down. Mere hours before show time all fights were off - that's just about as bad as it gets for SHINE.

Matt Lindland returned to his winning ways in Strikeforce: Challengers with a solid performance over Kevin Casey. Lindland survived a rough first round and put the pressure on in rounds two and three before the stoppage.

Roxanne Modaferri and Tara LaRosa turned up the heat in Moosin with a very exciting three-rounder. LaRosa had beaten Modeferri a few years back but Modaferri was the better fighter this night. Check out all three rounds at the UG.

And last but not least, Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia made a "triumphant" return by defeating four-time World's Strongest Man, Mariusz Pudzianowski. Not much to say on this one - it was reminiscent of the early PRIDE match ups.

Lots of great fights coming up this week. Stay tuned.