Mailbag: Overeem psyched for Lesnar bout
Only a few days after a report suggested that his health would force him to retire, the UFC announced that former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will return to competition on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas when he meets ex-Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem at UFC 141.
The Los Angeles Times broke the news on Tuesday.
Lesnar has not fought since losing the belt to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in Anaheim, Calif., on Oct. 23. Shortly afterward, Lesnar underwent surgery after he had a flareup of diverticulitis.
Last week, the web site TheMMACorner.com claimed that Lesnar would be forced to retire. The erroneous report then spread when the site Bleacher Report followed up on it. Asked about it during a conference call Friday to announce that the Velasquez-Junior dos Santos fight would headline the Nov. 12 show on Fox, White dismissed it out-of-hand.
"That's ridiculous," White said of the story. "That's so far from the truth, it's not even funny. He's been working up on a farm in Canada all summer. He's back to 100 percent, and he's getting back into training in the next couple of weeks."
On Tuesday, the UFC revealed just how ridiculous Bleacher Report was, when it signed Overeem to a UFC contract and announced he'd make his debut at UFC 141 against Lesnar.
"It's a going to be a very aggressive fight," Overeem told Yahoo! Sports. "Knowing Brock, and knowing myself, it's going to be extremely aggressive and I'm pretty sure it's not going to go the distance. He's a big guy, I'm a big guy and it's not in our nature to be conservative. He's a wrestler and is going to try to get me down. I'm a striker and I'm going to try to knock him out. I am excited and I can't wait for the bout."
[Related: Brock Lesnar's demise greatly exaggerated]
It's a terrific, and unexpected, matchup &ndah; the kind the UFC keeps pulling out of the hat to excite its fan base. Overeem, who signed his contract Tuesday in UFC chairman Lorenzo Fertitta's Las Vegas office, told Yahoo! Sports that he was offered the opportunity to fight the Velasquez-dos Santos winner, but didn't want to wait that long and chose to face Lesnar instead.
"I was offered the option to fight for the [UFC] title right away, but it would probably be six months, because those guys would need some time to recover," Overeem said. "I'm a fighter and I like to be active. As we were talking, Brock's name is one of the names that came up. The fans wanted to see that fight, and I wanted to see it. Taking everything into consideration, one of the most important things are the fans. They wanted to see it, two big guys slugging it out, so I said, 'Let's do it.' "
In addition, the UFC reached verbal agreements with lightweights Clay Guida and Ben Henderson on a fight that will be on the undercard of the Fox show on Nov. 12 in Anaheim, Calif. The winner of that fight will be the top contender for the winner of the upcoming title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard.
• The UFC's announcements completely overshadowed the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinal card, which is Saturday at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. And given that the UFC is hosting a news conference on Wednesday to formally announce the Georges St. Pierre-Nick Diaz fight set for Oct. 29 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, it's going to be another day that the Grand Prix takes a back seat in the headlines.
• A Lesnar-Overeem fight is enough to salivate over. But can you imagine what an Overeem-Shane Carwin fight or an Overeem-dos Santos fight might be like? Unreal.
• White clarified Tuesday that the UFC's deal with Fox was for four fights a year, not six.
• Good move by Bellator to stream its undercard fights on Spike.com. MMA fans are used to going to Spike and this will help to increase Bellator's exposure. How long before Bellator leaves MTV2 and announces all of its broadcasts will be on Spike?
Velasquez-dos Santos lack casual-fan interest
Regarding the heavyweight title match between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos on Fox, do you think it is the best choice to headline the network premiere? Personally, I think it will be a great fight. But while this fight will be highly anticipated among the mixed martial arts crowd, I don't see where it is going to appeal to a broad, "first-time MMA," general audience. I don't imagine most people who don't watch MMA have ever heard of these guys, but they may have heard of fighters like Brock Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre or Anderson Silva. Your thoughts?
Stan
San Diego
Stan, I think they made the perfect choice. First, they had to go with who was available. Second, there is always something special about a heavyweight title fight. And third, the casual fans aren't going to tune in for the name. They're going to tune in because they've heard of the UFC and want to see what it's about. It was incumbent upon White and Fertitta to put on a match that promised to be wildly entertaining so as to capture those new fans. I think Velasquez-dos Santos does that very well.
Pay Alvarez, bring him to the UFC
Hey Kevin, I am in Iraq on my fourth deployment and still following the UFC. I love your work, along with Dave Meltzer's. The reason I am writing is I think it is time for Eddie Alvarez to get paid the money he deserves from the UFC so he can fight the best in the world. After talking with Eddie's manager, it seems that Dana does not want to pay him and he will have to take a pay cut if he leaves Bellator. His team felt the money offered was a slap in the face considering he is the fifth-ranked lightweight in the world. Plus, he is a very entertaining fighter with a big heart. If Dana is true to his word; he will bring Alvarez in and set up good fights for the fans. Unfortunately, now it is all about the money.
Stanley Zgrzepski
Philadelphia
Thanks for everything you're doing for us, Stanley. It's appreciated. As far as Alvarez's contract, that's private between him, Bellator and his manager. But what I will say is that there are many fighters who have signed in the UFC who are now making more than $1 million a year. If Alvarez is in it solely for the money, he'll have to be content fighting on a much smaller stage, which will impact his out-of-cage earnings, too. He has to make a choice that he feels is best for him, but I'd love to see him fight the likes of Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez, UFC champion Frankie Edgar, as well as guys like Gray Maynard, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Jim Miller, Clay Guida and others.
Silva should face the light heavyweights
UFC champion Anderson Silva has "lapped the field" at middleweight. He has also destroyed the light heavyweights he has faced. So why is the "super fight" with a welterweight? Georges St. Pierre is a great fighter who, under the best of circumstances, could conceivably wrestle Silva to a decision. The problem is that Silva is taller, longer, probably the most accurate MMA striker in history, has knocked out everyone he has tried knock out, can fight on the ground and St. Pierre got knocked out by Matt Serra. So why isn't the Silva super fight at a higher weight class with Jon Jones (a longer, taller fighter)? Jones is probably not experienced enough to handle Silva over five rounds. The truth is, Silva is simply in a class by himself.
Devin Galaudet
Los Angeles
Devin, I agree that the most intriguing matchup would be Silva-Jones. But Jones is a young guy who has yet to make one title defense. And the UFC has had a policy that a champion clean out a division before he fights someone from outside of his division. Plus, there are several major fights awaiting Jones, not the least of which is his Sept. 24 bout against former champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in Denver. If he wins that, he faces Rashad Evans. I think circumstance, as much as anything, puts Silva and St. Pierre together, as well as the fact they're 1-2 in the rankings.
"It's like a cancer patient, like a dying cancer patient. That's how I feel like the organization is. We're just waiting for it to die, to pass. As long as I can get my fights in and they're still around, I want to get them in." – Strikeforce light heavyweight Muhammad Lawal, discussing Strikeforce’s future as a standalone promotion.
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