Alistair Overeem Declines Bout At UFC 191, Will Wait For Junior Dos Santos
News arrived last week that heavyweight Alistair Overeem was being targeted for a potential spot on September’s UFC 191 pay-per-view (PPV) card from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
After a few potential bouts were thrown his way, however, ‘The Reem’ has apparently decided to stick to his guns and continuing vying for the bout that he’s always been targeting, one with his longtime media foe Junior dos Santos.
With the grudge match seemingly closer than ever to happening sometime soon, Ariel Helwani had the story on UFC Tonight:
“They also reached out to Alistair Overeem about fighting on that card, threw out a few match-ups, but none of them came to fruition, and it appears as though Alistair really wants to wait for Junior dos Santos to be one hundred percent healthy. They’ve been going back and forth for the last couple years; that’s the fight everyone wants to see. He has told the UFC this; the UFC is on board with this. JDS recently told him he’ll be ready to go, be around one hundred percent around December, January at the latest. So, look for that fight to get made once JDS finally gets officially cleared medically.”
The two archenemies were supposed to meet for the belt at May 2012’s UFC 146, but a failed drug test for elevated testosterone by ‘The Demolition Man’ put the bout on hold to this day. Overeem targeted dos Santos for a matchup this summer by continuously calling out the Brazilian former champion, but ‘Cigano’ remains on the sidelines recovering from surgery required after his win over Stipe Miocic in their war at last December’s UFC on FOX 13.
Dos Santos responded by saying that ‘The Reem’ only talks trash when he’s injured, but then promptly said he’d be able to return for a title fight against Fabricio Werdum in December. But it appears that the UFC has decided to finally re-book dos Santos vs. Overeem.
With Andrei Arlovski vs. Frank Mir being rumored for UFC 191, who will face Werdum for the belt when he returns for his first defense?
Photo Credit: Tim Heitman for USA TODAY Sports
