Fight fans can look forward to a heavyweight slugfest involving Alistair Overeem at the UFC 225 pay-per-view event.
The UFC announced on Wednesday afternoon that the former title contender would fight top prospect Curtis Blaydes at the upcoming event. BJPenn.com first brought word of the match-up and MMA News’ own Tim Thompson was able to confirm before the announcement.
Blaydes (9–1-1) is coming off the biggest win of his career by scoring a unanimous decision victory over Mark Hunt at UFC 221 last month in Australia. He’s on a three-fight winning streak and has only lost one bout while fighting in the Octagon under the UFC banner, which was to Francis Ngannou back in 2016 by TKO.
On the flip side, Overeem (43-16, 1 NC) is coming off a knockout loss to Ngannou at UFC 218 in December. This was a #1 contender’s fight to see who would challenge Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight strap at UFC 220 this past January.
The is UFC 225 pay-per-view event slated to go down on Saturday, June 9, 2018, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.
As of this writing, Claudia Gadelha taking on Carla Esparza, and Joseph Benavidez meeting Sergio Pettis have already been confirmed for the upcoming event.
The show doesn’t have the main event yet, but UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker recently took to his official Twitter account to lay down the challenge to Yoel Romero for their fight to take place at this upcoming pay-per-view event, which could serve as the main event.
Also, former women’s bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko has teased potentially fighting Nicco Montano, who won the inaugural flyweight title when she beat Roxanne Modafferi by unanimous decision at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale in December, at UFC 225 for the title.
Montano has not been seen in the Octagon since as she suffered a broken foot in that fight, which is the reason she has been kept out of action once she decided to undergo the knife and get surgery. It should be noted that the UFC has yet to officially announce this fight as of this writing.
What are your thoughts on this heavyweight showdown between Overeem and Blaydes at this upcoming pay-per-view event? Sound off in the comment section below.
