I think he’s showing that he’s on the right track, but you’ll forgive me if I don’t take wins over Paul Buentello and Gary Goodridge all that seriously.

I like to think victories over Hunt and Cro Cop (and I think we can all agree that’s where that fight was heading) mean something, but in 2008 I’m not sure.

It would be a nothing match, but I’m interested to see who wins in a rubber match with Kharitonov at this point.

All of that having been said, he could be a top ten heavyweight. You have your top five guys, then the six thru ten rankings are in flux. Most of the guys from 10 to 20 are either the up and comers (Velasquez, Lesnar, perhaps Carwin) and the guys like Nelson and Rothwell who just piled up wins over scrubs.

Which is a roundabout way of saying that Overeem’s ranking has as much, if not more, to do with the state of the Heavyweight division in 2008 as it does about how well Overeem has been doing of late.

I am not saying that he might not be on something, but this was a huge part of his issues in Pride. He was making a huge cut to LHW, and it was draining him. I think he was in the 230’s then and I don’t think he has put that much weight on now, excluding the pounds he would have kept off in anticipation of the cut.

The guy has gotten huge in such a short span on time.

He was always huge. He’s just no longer cutting to 205. He probably cut more weight than anyone else fighting in PRIDE.

He is one of my Professors. I just put the link on as support of him.