On Friday, December 30, the UFC will have arguably its biggest event of the year, as former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar will face off against former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.
This will be Lesnar’s first time stepping in the cage since October of 2010 when he lost his heavyweight title to Cain Velasquez.
This will also be Overeem’s first time stepping in the UFC cage ever.
Even though neither fighter has seen the UFC cage in quite some time, UFC 141 will be the biggest pay-per-view draw of the year.
There are a few reasons for that, the first of which is that it is the New Year’s Eve card. The New Year’s card is typically one of the bigger cards of the year, and this one is no different.
With Lesnar-Overeem, Donald Cerrone vs. Nick Diaz and Jon Fit—never mind, ignore Fitch—this makes for one of the most exciting cards of the year.
And, although Dana White has called GSP the best PPV draw, that honor has to go to Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar has headlined four of the top six UFC PPVs of all time, and has been featured on one more in the top 20. Lesnar brings in the viewers.
In UFC history, seven PPVs have had 1,000,000 buys or more. Lesnar has headlined four of those. He is, without a doubt, the top PPV star.
The final reason that UFC 141 will be the biggest card of the year, is once again, due to Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar has been out of the cage for 14 months. When he goes back in the Octagon, everyone and their grandmother are going to want to see what happens.
Admittedly, my grandmother probably has never heard of him, but that isn’t the point.
Lesnar vs. Overeem is a matchup that has been talked about for years. Both are huge heavyweights, standing over six feet tall and weighing over 250 pounds.
This is one of the biggest matchups, both literally and figuratively, in UFC history.
I’ll be watching—will you?
Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow me on twitter @tmt2393.
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