As expected, the UFC 141 brawl between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem will determine who gets next dibs at the heavyweight crown. Although UFC president Dana White had mentioned the significance of the bout in the past, the organization made things official on Thursday.
“Brock Lesnar is 110 percent healthy and ready to get the world title back,” White said. “He asked for the toughest test we could find for him and there’s no doubt that Alistair Overeem fits the bill. He’s been a champion in other organizations and came to UFC to fight the best guys in the world. He wants to show everyone that he’s the number one heavyweight in the sport.
“This fight is the perfect fight to close out 2011.”
Reigning champion Cain Velasquez defends his throne against Junior dos Santos this Saturday. Either Lesnar or Overeem will advance to face the winner of their heavily-hyped shootout.
For you Angelenos that were searching for something to do on Friday afternoon, Lesnar, Overeem and White will hold a press conference at 2PM PT from the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. The presser is free and open to the public and will take place before the official weigh-ins for “UFC on FOX.”
The planet’s biggest MMA promotion also confirmed the pay-per-view’s co-main event will feature a critical lightweight tango with Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone.
The MGM Grand Garden Arena will host the December 30th festivities.
Here are the athletes slated to appear in the show:
Manny Gamburyan vs. Diego Nunes
Luis Ramos vs Matt Riddle
Ross Pearson vs. Junior Assuncao
TJ Grant vs. Jacob Volkmann
Sean Pierson vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks
Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz
Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar