The UFC is putting the best of the heavyweight division on its upcoming UFC 146 card in Las Vegas, and to headline the event, reigning heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will take on former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem in what should be a very memorable fight.
Overeem will enter the bout with a 36-11 record, including 15 knockouts and 19 submission wins. His opponent is also a finisher with 10 knockouts in 15 fights.
“This is a fun one,” White said of the main event at the UFC 146 press conference. “Again, the card is stacked with great heavyweight fights. I love this main event with Alistair and Junior dos Santos. Junior dos Santos has been knocking everyone out, except for Roy, and Alistair looked so good in that fight versus Brock Lesnar so, interesting fight.”
Dos Santos is coming off his impressive knockout victory over Cain Velasquez while Overeem was last seen defeating and retiring Lesnar.
After a rough stretch of fights in 2006 and 2007, Overeem made the move to the heavyweight division where he has since gone on to become both a K1 and MMA champion. His wins include those over Lesnar, Brett Rogers, Mark Hunt, Fabricio Werdum and Todd Duffee.
“For me, the question is how is Dos Santos going to deal with the kicks and the knees and the elbows,” White continued. “Since he has been in the UFC, I’ve never had to see him deal with that, the stuff that he is going to have to deal with from Alistair Overeem, fought a pretty one-dimensional fight. He’s Chuck Liddell-like. He’s defending the takedown and drops bombs, but he’s never dealt with anybody who tries to throw kicks and knees, works the clinch like Alistair Overeem does. I’m really curious to see how Junior dos Santos plans on dealing with that.”
Other main-card bouts, all of which feature heavyweights, include Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir, Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane del Rosario, Mark Hunt vs. Stefan Struve and Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Silva.
If anyone was wondering if Nelson would be dropping to 205, he’s not. Having gone 1-3 in his last four bouts, this is a must-win for him, and it’s also a very serious test against one of the division’s biggest fighters.
“I’m done with it,” White said of trying to convince Nelson to drop to light heavyweight. “I’ve been encouraging him to shave his face and cut his hair too, but he doesn’t want to listen to that either.”
Despite losing and taking tremendous amounts of punishment against Werdum, Mir and Dos Santos, Nelson was never stopped. His 16-7 record shows him losing six fights by decision and only one by knockout, which came when he was dropped by Andrei Arlovski in 2008.
White admits Nelson is a good fighter, but it’s for the wrong reasons.
“I’m cool. I like him,” White continued. “He’s a tough guy with a ton of heart, goes in there and gives it his everything. My thing is, I’d love to see him take this thing serious. When you got a chin line that, and a heart like that, you can’t deny the guy has a great chin, a great heart. He can knock people out too. If he really could get to 205, he’d be a force.”
UFC 146 will be available on pay-per-view on May 26.
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