Fabricio Werdum begged Alistair Overeem to jump into his guard during last weekend's Strikeforce event © Getty Images Enlarge

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Fabricio Werdum has blamed a knee injury and Alistair Overeem for Saturday's lacklustre Strikeforce event in Dallas.

Werdum lost a disappointing decision in the Heavyweight Grand Prix quarter-finals, seemingly punished for a lack of Octagon control after he continuously threw himself to the mat, hoping Overeem would jump into his guard.

The Brazilian drew strong criticism for his performance, with Overeem insisting his rival "did not come to fight".

Werdum insists he was hampered by a knee problem though, and he also questioned Overeem's courage after the kickboxer intelligently refused to enter into a ground war with the jiu-jitsu specialist.

"If you look well, you'll see that my knee got out of place in the beginning of the second round," Werdum told R7.com. "It hurt so much, it was difficult to get up and it took a little of my focus. I will have an MRI scan and see whether it is serious and when I will be able to train.

"I should have had more faith in my stand-up, listened to [coach] Rafael Cordeiro. Strategically he (Overeem) was better. Perhaps, if I hadn't pulled the guard so many times, I would have won.

"He didn't want to go to the ground with me at all but it is an MMA fight, you have to do the ground game as well. I think it is funny that [opponents] call me to go at them and I do, but when I call them to the mat, nobody does."

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