Appart from JDS, I don't see a lot of guys who can trade with Kharitonov standing. Granite chin, Ko power, and is one of the best boxers ever at HW. Werdum would beat him as soon as the fight go to the ground imo. Sergei is not the grappler he used to be back in 04' 05'.
I agree with the first two but Werdum is a different beast, today. I would not give Sergei that much chance. Far from it.
Had some serious injuries from 06' to 08', moved to golden glory where I think it's not the best place to train grappling. But let's not pretend Monson and Barnett aren't submission specialist. But yeah, the Monson fight was embarrassing.
JDS could potentially keep him at range I spose but Sergei seems like a potentially terrible matchup to me, he's probably the most devastating dirty/inside boxer in MMA history. Idon't care how good your chin is, if youlike Sergei onload on your against the fence/ropes with limited defence your going down. His grappling has looked a little better recently but he still seems way way below what he was, he might be able to hold Werdum off I spose who isn't as active as he was back then looking for takedowns but I suspect Overeem would get him down and either win a decision or sub him.
its hard to say how good he would do,he hasnt fought this level of competition in a while in mma. However,it was the same situation when he fought arlovski and he still won that fight. Im thinking reem and jds are harder fights than that,but im willing to bet reem,and maybe jds dont even take that fight,if he ever returned. Hi risk/low reward.
AO gets demolished by him again, Arlovski is capable of winning if he grapples Sergei...but very likely loses standing again, and Werdum probably wins a good 8-9 times out of 10.
I'm too lazy to link, but there's a recent interview with Sergei on BE. Basically he says he ain't getting younger and wants to fight more than once or twice a year. UFC be holding the man down.
Probably does KO both Arlovski and Reem still, I always wanted Sergei to come over to the UFC, but I understand why he doesn't want to. Oh well.
I got Econoreem via GNP like he did against Stefan Struve, takes it to the ground ASAP. I think he can beat Arlovski. I think Werdum subs Kharitonov in the 1st
Overeem soundly outclassed Sergei in PRIDE, injuring his shoulder with a nasty throw and kneeing him to Bolivia on the ground. The fact they had a rematch and Overeem didn't do the exact same thing is on Overeem. Sergei had no business ever beating Overeem unless it was a striking-only contest.
Sergei's grappling has been horrible lately... I don't think he has much of a chance against Werdum but he is a terrible match up for AA and AO.. Natural HW counterstriker with great boxing ( even if he lacks speed he has very good distance control and good head movement ) with bricks for hands and a granite chin.. Doesn't sound good for them if they can't grapple him His chin makes it for his lacks of speed nowadays and he only has to land once and is willing to take one to land one...
Sergei smokes any of the ufc heavies that aren't elite grapplers with take downs. He's easy top ten in the world. Maybe top 5.
