Brock Lesnar will return to the UFC octagon in a five-round main event Dec. 30 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, facing newly signed former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.
"Brock is a big name, a dangerous guy, and this is a dream matchup," Overeem told The Times on Tuesday, just after signing a standard UFC fight contract in the office of Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta. "Brock's a big guy, an exciting wrestler with his takedowns.
"I want to see this fight myself. Overall, I'm a different fighter. A striker, athletic, big. These are going to be two big trucks going at it on a collision course."
Lesnar has been on the shelf since May after having surgery to remove a portion of his colon that was affected by a second encounter with diverticulitis. He was previously scheduled to face Junior dos Santos at UFC 131 in June for title contention, but he was forced to withdraw due to the relapse. December 30th will mark over one year since Lesnar was last seen inside the Octagon."Brock is a big name, a dangerous guy, and this is a dream matchup," Overeem told The Times on Tuesday, just after signing a standard UFC fight contract in the office of Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta. "Brock's a big guy, an exciting wrestler with his takedowns.
"I want to see this fight myself. Overall, I'm a different fighter. A striker, athletic, big. These are going to be two big trucks going at it on a collision course."
Overeem was released by Strikeforce at the beginning of August over a stalemate in contract talks. Those concerns have obviously been rectified as Overeem has now signed to fight under the UFC banner, something he's been asking for publicly for awhile. Overeem has had quite the run in the last year, winning the K-1 World Grand Prix title along with defeating Fabricio Werdum in the quarterfinals of the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. He'll surely add some depth to a division that's dying for title challengers once Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos go to battle on November 12.