This Saturday, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the T-Mobile Arena plays host to Ufc 209. Despite being met with little hype at its announcement, this card has slowly gained the attention it deserves as the MMA world begins to buzz about the interesting matchups it features, including a bout between two heavyweights scheduled to face-off at the start of the main card, Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt. Neither fighter performed well the last time they stepped into the cage, so you can expect both men will be looking to make a statement in this one.
A look at their recent fights
Before his devastating first round loss to reigning champion Stipe Miocic, Overeem was riding a four fight win streak with all of those victories coming against formidable opponents (Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Junior Dos Santos, and Andrei Arlovski). Three of those wins came by way of knockout and one by unanimous decision, leaving one to believe, despite his loss to the champ, "The Reem" still has something left in the tank.
Hunt, on the other hand, has only been successful in five of his last ten trips to the octagon. While it is worthy to note his most recent loss to Brock Lesnar was overturned and ruled a no-contest, he looked awful in the fight. Lesnar was able to have his way with Hunt, taking him down 14 times and landing 147 significant strikes -- an embarrassing number when compared to Hunt's mere 10 strikes landed.
How they match up
Considering their recent fight history, Overeem looks much more impressive coming into this fight. Hunt, however, should never be taken lightly. He may have ten losses on his record, but he has only been knocked out twice in his career, meaning his chin should still be strong enough to endure Overeem's strikes.
Both of these fighters are former kickboxing champions and rely on their ability to cause massive damage on their feet. Their game plans should be similar, both trying to set their own pace and capitalize on openings in their opponent's defense.
What you should expect
Heavyweight fights in the UFC usually go one of two ways:
- They are packed with extremely exciting exchanges where a fighter could go down at any moment.
- They are mind-numbingly dull affairs where two grown men spoon.
This one should be the former given Overeem and Hunt both love to swing for the fences and both desperately need to prove they still have what it takes to fight for the title. This weekend, expect to see something similar to what transpired in their first fight at Dream 5 in 2008 -- Alistair Overeem's hand raised in victory.
