Junior dos Santos never much fancied a dance with Alistair Overeem, but it appears he’s done fighting against it. An incredulous dos Santos responded to accusations of being “afraid” Monday morning by tagging several UFC officials in a tweet that demanded the promotion make the Overeem fight happen.
@Alistairovereem Afraid??? Are you kidding me? @lorenzofertitta @danawhite #JoeSilva #USADA Make it happen #NoMoreTalking
— Junior Dos Santos (@junior_cigano) August 17, 2015
Dos Santos (17-3) is sidelined at the moment after undergoing dual knee and nose surgeries following his Dec. 2014 win over Stipe Miocic at UFC on FOX 13. He is targeting a return to action in November or December, and Overeem has already vowed to greet the Brazilian in his return.
The 35-year-old Overeem (39-14, 1 NC) hasn’t made his intentions a secret, either. “The Reem” has needled dos Santos unremittingly on social media for much of the past month, chiding the former UFC champion to stop delaying and sign a contract for the fight.
Dos Santos was resistant at first, believing Overeem to be a step down after beating Miocic. In recent conversations with MMAFighting.com, dos Santos dismissed Overeem as “a better talker than a fighter” and appeared baffled by the continual questions he faces about the Dutchman.
But now it looks like a rivalry that began in 2012, when Overeem was slated to challenge for dos Santos’ UFC championship, will finally be settled.
Overeem sunk that first match-up himself when he popped positive for elevated levels of testosterone in a pre-fight drug test and drew a nine-month suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission. Had he done similarly under the UFC’s new working partnership with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which the two heavyweights will compete under for their proposed fight, Overeem would’ve drawn a two-year suspension for his testing failure.
Dos Santos is 3-2 since the Overeem fight fell through, sandwiching wins over Frank Mir, Mark Hunt, and Miocic between a pair of devastating title losses to Cain Velasquez.
Overeem, on the other hand, has rebounded by picking up victories over Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve, marking the first two-fight win streak of his UFC career after being knocked out in three of his first four fights back from suspension.
Together, dos Santos and Overeem are the only two men to defeat current UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum since 2008.