Stipe Miocic (pictured) paid his dues in finally scoring a UFC heavyweight title tilt in May, and the fireman took full advantage of his opportunity by knocking out Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198 to capture the elusive crown.
Miocic puts his hardware on the line for the first time when he battles veteran Alistair Overeem at UFC 203 on Saturday. Miocic will enjoy home-cage advantage, as the scrap goes down in his backyard at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Overeem’s controversial journey to a UFC title fight has been a long time coming, with most of the prolonged process courtesy of his own doing – running from a random drug test, which he subsequently failed for elevated levels of testosterone and was handed a nine-month suspension. “The Demolition Man” then dropping his next three of his next four fights.
However, a late career resurgence sees Overeem riding a four-fight winning streak into the biggest bout of his life, despite not looking as Ubereem as he once did.
Did I do enough there to sell Saturday’s pay-per-view? Maybe the UFC’s “Countdown to UFC 203” will do the trick. I’ll just stay right here in my lane.
Please click the media player below to watch the promo:
Here is UFC 203’s official agenda:
Preliminary Card:
(UFC Fight Pass 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT)
Drew Dober vs. Jason Gonzalez
CB Dollaway vs. Francimar Barroso
Sean Spencer vs. Yancy Medeiros
(Fox Sports 1 8PM ET/5PM PT)
Ray Borg vs. Ian McCall
Caio Magalhaes vs. Brad Tavares
Nik Lentz vs. Michael McBride
Bethe Correia vs. Jessica Eye
Main Card:
(Pay-Per-View 10PM ET/7PM PT)
Joanne Calderwood vs. Jessica Andrade
Urijah Faber vs. Jimmy Rivera
Phil “CM Punk” Brooks vs. Mickey Gall
Fabricio Werdum vs. Travis Browne
Alistair Overeem vs. Stipe Miocic (UFC heavyweight champion)