Up until late last week it looked as if former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was on-course for a rematch with current title holder Junior Dos Santos, but now everything’s up in the air after JDS told Dana White that he wanted to fight Alistair Overeem instead.
White has said a decision on who will fight the champ hasn’t been made yet, but the broad smile that crossed his face when he told reporters about how dos Santos wants to KO Overeem suggests that it’s a fight he too wants to see.
However, while Velasquez understands that JDS Vs Overeem is a big fight for the company, he doesn’t like the fact that the champion can just opt to overlook him in favor of another opponent.
“As a champion, you really can’t pick and choose who you fight,” Velasquez tells MMAjunkie.com. “You’re supposed to fight the No. 1 contender.”
Velasquez has a point – particularly when you consider that Overeem is currently serving a suspension after failing a pre-fight drugs test due to elevated levels of testosterone prior to his originally scheduled bout with dos Santos earlier this year.
In the mean time Velasquez has earned a convincing first round TKO victory over Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, but so far that’s not lead to assurances that he will get the next title shot.
“I haven’t heard back. We’re just in the same boat right now. We have these feelings that we think we should fight for the title, and hopefully it all works out.”
While Velasquez is keeping his fingers crossed that justice is done here and he gets the nod, Alistair Overeem is busy stirring the pot by ramping up his war of words with the champion in the hope that the allure of a blockbuster grudge match will sway the UFC’s decision in his favor.
“Junior, give me and the fans and the UFC what they want,” Overeem declared on this week’s UFC Tonight show after stating that the champion was afraid to fight him.
“You’ve already fought Cain. That would just be another win. But a win over me would give you the No. 1 spot. Without a win over me, they’ll always question your championship. So bring it to the table, my friend.”
From the sound of things JDS doesn’t need any convincing, it’s the UFC who have to make up their mind which way they want to go.
The only thing we know in that regard at the moment is that they are hoping to have the heavyweight champ fight on their end of year show on December 29th – just two days after Overeem’s current suspension ends.
