Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum looks set to face a very familiar foe following reports that the Brazilian will take on Alistair Overeem at UFC 213 in July at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
News of the potential booking was first reported by FloCombat. The UFC are expected to confirm the bout as soon as terms of the contracts between the two have been finalised.
This will be the third time that Werdum and Overeem have squared off. Werdum won the first meeting in Pride all the way back in May of 2006, winning with a second round kimura submission. The two met again under the banner of Strikeforce in 2011 in a largely uneventful affair which Overeem won by unanimous decision as part of the promotion’s heavyweight Grand Prix.
Both Werdum and Overeem come into the bout on the back of wins. In Werdum’s case, he earned a unanimous decision win over Travis Browne in September, his first fight since losing the UFC heavyweight title to Stipe Miocic. Overeem was last in action earlier this month, knocking out Mark Hunt at UFC 209.
It is expected that UFC 213 will be the figurehead event to cap off the promotion’s annual International Fight Week. No further bouts for the card have been announced just yet but you can expect the UFC to attempt to load the card with high profile names.
