DSE Officially Announces Shogun-Overeem II
PRIDE parent company Dream Stage Entertainment has officially
announced a rematch between Mauricio Rua (Pictures) and Alistair Overeem (Pictures) for its Feb. 24 card at the
Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The sixth official bout for PRIDE's second North American venture, Rua and Overeem previously met in Aug. 2005 in the semifinals of PRIDE's Middleweight Grand Prix.
Rua weathered the early offense of Overeem, including an escape from Overeem's trademark guillotine choke, before mounting the Dutch fighter and pounding him out from the dominant position midway through the first round.
Later that night, Rua went on to defeat Ricardo Arona (Pictures) in the finals to become PRIDE's 2005 Grand Prix champion, leading also to his being named Sherdog.com's Fighter of the Year along with Takanori Gomi (Pictures).
Since his shocking injury loss to Mark Coleman (Pictures), Rua has won three straight bouts, taking out Cyrille Diabate (Pictures) and Kevin Randleman (Pictures), before earning a dominating decision over Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) this past New Year's Eve.
Meanwhile, Overeem has dropped three of his last four, including bouts to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures) in July and Ricardo Arona (Pictures) in Sept.
The sixth official bout for PRIDE's second North American venture, Rua and Overeem previously met in Aug. 2005 in the semifinals of PRIDE's Middleweight Grand Prix.
Rua weathered the early offense of Overeem, including an escape from Overeem's trademark guillotine choke, before mounting the Dutch fighter and pounding him out from the dominant position midway through the first round.
Later that night, Rua went on to defeat Ricardo Arona (Pictures) in the finals to become PRIDE's 2005 Grand Prix champion, leading also to his being named Sherdog.com's Fighter of the Year along with Takanori Gomi (Pictures).
Since his shocking injury loss to Mark Coleman (Pictures), Rua has won three straight bouts, taking out Cyrille Diabate (Pictures) and Kevin Randleman (Pictures), before earning a dominating decision over Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) this past New Year's Eve.
Meanwhile, Overeem has dropped three of his last four, including bouts to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pictures) in July and Ricardo Arona (Pictures) in Sept.
