Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem: Can Overeem Hang with the UFC Elite?

December 30, 2011 could prove to be the most important night in UFC history as the organization will be putting on one of the most anticipated main events in recent memory as fans will be treated to Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem in a five-round fight.

Despite having just seven fights in his career, Brock Lesnar has already proven that he is among the UFC heavyweight elite when he became the division’s champion in just his third appearance in the Octagon. But questions surrounding the validity of Alistair Overeem being among the heavyweight elite still need to be answered.

After years of toying back and forth between the heavyweight and light heavyweight (or middleweight as it was called in Pride) divisions, Alistair Overeem finally moved up to the heavyweight division full-time in June of 2007 when he submitted Michael Knaap in the first round of their fight at the K-1 World Grand Prix.

He would go on to lose his next fight against current Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix semi-finalist Sergei Kharitonov, but that was the last time that we have really seen Overeem struggle.

Nearly four years later, Overeem has run up an impressive 10-fight win streak with the only blemish coming in the form of a no-contest against Mirko Cro Cop in 2008. But other than that small blip, if you can even call it that, there hasn’t even been a fighter who has really challenged “the Reem.” Overeem became the first (and thus far only) heavyweight champion in both Strikeforce and Dream by dismantling his opponents with some of the most intense kickboxing that the sport of MMA has to offer.

However even with his complete dominance over the past nearly four years, many MMA fans and analysts question whether he has been making a name for himself by crushing “cans” and whether he could do the same against the top-level competition in the UFC.

If we’re being fair, victories over Todd Duffee, a 42-year old Gary Goodridge, a 39-year old Kazuyuki Fujita and James Thompson just aren’t quite the same as the ones that guys like Brock Lesnar have put up against Shane Carwin, Frank Mir and Randy Couture.

Even UFC President Dana White, who is an admitted fan of Overeem’s, has his doubts.

"I actually find it hilarious that he's ranked in the top 10 by some of the websites,” White told MMAJunkie this past November. “I find it hilarious. What has he done in MMA to be ranked in the top 10? I'd like somebody here to answer that question. We've got a lot of media guys here; what has Alistair Overeem done to be ranked in the top 10 of mixed martial arts' heavyweight division?”

Overeem has been firmly planted within the top-10, and even the top-five among many MMA rankings, but his only victory against a fellow top-10 opponent came earlier this year when he fought Fabricio Werdum in the opening round of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix tournament.

"Guys that fight the top guys in the top 10, three times a year in mixed martial arts – those are the guys that are ranked in the top 10,” White added. “How bout the fact that he's fighting in K-1, where you just kick and punch? There's no wrestling, there's no this, and there's no that. How does any credible [expletive] MMA guy put him in the top 10 in the heavyweight division? It's hilarious."

Now that he has signed up to fight against the best of the best in the Octagon, perhaps we will hear a little bit less criticism on the part of the UFC President. He had been saying the same thing about Fedor Emelianenko for years and it turns out that he may have been right about the Russian after all.

It’s put-up or shut-up time for “The Reem” and his fans. If he can beat Brock Lesnar, there is no doubting that he is a top-5 heavyweight. But if he gets smashed as some have already predicted, Dana White may be proven right once again.