Former Strikeforce, DREAM and K-1 heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return on Superbowl weekend (February 2nd) at UFC 156 to take on Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva.
The fight will go ahead assuming that Overeem is granted a license to fight in Nevada after his current suspension for registering elevated levels of testosterone during a pre-fight drugs test earlier this year comes to an end on December 27th.
Overeem’s only fight so far in the UFC came against Brock Lesnar at the end of last year, easily brushing aside the former champion by first round TKO. He had then been lined up to fight current title holder Junior Dos Santos before his failed drugs test put him out of action for nine months.
It’s believed that a win in February would restore Overeem as the division’s No.1 contender, but he can’t afford to overlook ‘Bigfoot’ who holds a win over heavyweight great Fedor Emelianenko and claimed a significant first round TKO victory in the Octagon over Travis Browne last month.
Overeem and Silva had originally been lined up to fight each other at the Strikeforce heavyweight grand-prix semi-finals in 2011 before the Dutch fighter suddenly left the promotion and eventually re-emerged in the UFC.
It’s already been confirmed that UFC 156 will feature a headline title fight between Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo, while Lyoto Machida Vs Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans Vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira have also been rumored for the main card.
That seems like an awfully stacked card though, even by Superbowl weekend standards, and I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of the additional bouts is now shifted to the recently announced UFC 157 event on February 23rd instead.
