Overeem handles Werdum, moves to Strikeforce GP semifinals

He didn’t get much help from Fabricio Werdum, who continually fell to the ground and tried to pull Overeem down with him in the main event of a card at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday night.

The Dutch kick-boxing specialist would have none of it, continually dismissing Werdum’s pleas to follow him to the mat, en route to winning by unanimous decision.

“He’s one of the best grapplers in the world,” Overeem said. “We don’t want to play with him on the ground.”

Werdum held his own in the standup but often went to the ground intentionally after Overeem would land anything.

While the numbers showed Werdum landed more shots, Overeem landed the more powerful blows, and the judges could have been influenced by how many times Werdum dropped to the mat.

Overeem won all three rounds on two scorecards and two of the three rounds on the other card.

In the other quarterfinal, Josh Barnett kept Brett Rogers on his back for nearly the entire fight before locking in an arm triangle and forcing the tap early in the second round.

Barnett almost immediately transformed back into his professional wrestling shtick and snatched the microphone away from announcer Gus Johnson before delivering a speech.

“I still got a tournament to fight. Bit by bit, inch by inch. One by one. I’m going to take each one of them down one by one,” he said in part. “I’m going to add one skeleton to the collection, to the next, to the next, until I’m standing on a pile of bodies with a pile of gold in my hand.”

Overeem now will face Antonio Silva in the semifinals, while Barnett will meet Sergei Kharitonov.

Silva and Kharitonov each advanced with knockout victories over Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski, respectively, in February.

The semifinal round is expected to take place sometime in early fall.

Daniel Cormier and Chad Griggs each picked up impressive victories to position themselves as possible injury replacements should one of the heavyweight semifinalists be unable to continue in the tournament.

Griggs pounded out Valentijn Overeem, Alistair’s older brother, after taking him down and winding up in top position in the first round.

After Griggs landed a barrage of right hands, Overeem appeared to tap out because of the punishment. The bout officially was announced as a referee stoppage, however.

Cormier, a United States Olympian in wrestling, showed off his improved striking skills by controlling Jeff Monson in the standup game in a one-sided unanimous decision.

Cormier remained unbeaten in eight fights in his young career.

In a lightweight bout, Jorge Masvidal dominated K.J. Noons in a unanimous decision that put him in a possible position to challenge for Gilbert Melendez’s belt.

With the win, Masvidal might get a chance at the title, particularly because an undercard bout between fellow contenders JZ Cavalcante and Justin Wilcox was ruled a no contest because of an accidental eye poke in the second round.

“You’re not going to see me get on my knees (and beg for it) or nothing, but if (Strikeforce CEO) Scott Coker wants to give me the shot, I’d be more than happy,” said Masvidal, who has two daughters and said the title shot would make a great Father’s Day gift from the organization.