Bigfoot Silva (right) showed poor sportsmanship while celebrating over a crumbled Alistair Overeem (left) last night

By Joshua Molina

And that’s why you play the game.

Alistair Overeem was shockingly KO’d Saturday night by an inferior fighter, destroying his chances for a UFC title shot and fueling beliefs that he was more show than go.  Overeem lost for two clear reasons, and one not as clear.

Even though he easily won the first two rounds, he fought tentatively and overly cautious. If you fight in fear of getting knocked out, you usually will.

He also got tired. By round three, he was tired. When you are tired, when you fight safe, and you get hit on the temple, you will get knocked out — even by an inferior fighter.

Finally, Overeem looked small, at least by Overeem standards. He was nothing like the hulk who crushed Brock Lesnar, Brett Rogers or Fabricio Werdum.

Overeem was busted for elevated testosterone levels last year; he’s long lived under a cloud of steroids suspicion.

It was a different Overeem inside the cage last night.  He was smaller, slower, and less aggressive.   Occasionally in sports, the worst team wins. That was certainly the case last night.Overeem will bounce back. But he probably wasted another 6 to 9 months.

As for his lucky opponent, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, he was classless in his victory.  After the highlight reel KO, Silva charged Overeem and yelled something at him. The ref had to pull him off.

Overeem had predicted he “would destroy” Silva, which just fueled Silva’s anger for the fight.  Silva, insecure because no one gives him any respect, clearly enjoyed the feeling of his victory.  But he showed a lack of sportsmanship in his win.  Not classy, particularly since Bigfoot has suffered similarly embarrassing losses at the  hands of Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez.

Bigfoot doesn’t deserve a match with Velasquez.  He would get crushed like he did last time. Silva always has a puncher’s chance, but the champ should be better than that.

Overeem will have to dig deep to find out who he is and whether he can win as a smaller version of himself like he did as a light heavyweight several years ago.  No matter how much better you are, there’s a reason why you play the game, and as Overeem found out, sometimes the better fighter doesn’t win.