Brock Lesnar announced Thursday he is healthy and that he wants to become the UFC heavyweight champion. It’s probably no surprise that Lesnar’s proclamation came on the same day the UFC announced its new partnership with FOX; Lesnar is one of the company’s biggest stars. Having him fight on FOX would attract major attention for the promotion, not to mention viewers.
Stick Lesnar in the octagon against any fighter and he’ll draw viewers. That being the case, we still have to wonder who they’ll choose for his next opponent. One rumor we read suggests he could end up fighting Alistair Overeem.
Overeem you’ll remember was cut by Strikeforce despite being their heavyweight champion. Overeem didn’t want to fight in September during their Grand Prix because he wanted time to recover from injuries. Instead, he booked a fight for his trainer’s promotional company Golden Glory. Overeem has said he’s open to signing an exclusive deal with the UFC. If they’re able to lock him up, it would set up a potential blockbuster with Lesnar.
Both fighters are large in stature, popular with the fan base, and incredibly talented. The only holdup is that Overeem may be too much of a challenge for Lesnar in his first fight back. Then again, he doesn’t have much time left in his career so maybe he won’t want to waste his body on a tune-up fight. If I were the UFC, I’d pounce on the opportunity to sign Overeem and match him up with Lesnar. Then we could call the fight the Junior dos Santos bowl. Don’t get the reference? Read this.
UPDATE: Dana White says we probably shouldn’t expect Lesnar to fight until the first of 2012
