What’s the story?
Mark Hunt is set to fight Alistair Overeem for the second time, in what’s shaping up to be a much-anticipated match between two of the greatest heavyweights the sport has ever seen.
UFC 209 takes place at the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas on the fifth of March, the winner of the fight could be in line for a potential crack at the heavyweight champion of the world, Stipe Miocic.
While Hunt claimed that he would sue the UFC after Lesnar’s doping violation in the fight against the ‘Super Samoan’, all relations looks to repaired as the Pacific Islander gets ready to take on one of the hardest hitting and most athletic heavyweights to have graced the sport of MMA.
In case you didn’t know
Both fighters go into the contest on the back of a loss. Overeem missed the chance to become the UFC champion at UFC 203, as he fell to Stipe Miocic in front of a packed Cleveland crowd, who witnessed their hometown hero Miocic knock out the veteran Overeem.
Also read: UFC News: Mark Hunt reveals why he accepted Alistair Overeem fight
As for Mark Hunt, UFC 200 was the last time he entered the Octagon in what would become a controversial loss to Brock Lesnar after it was learned that Lesnar was caught for a doping violation.
It is reported that Hunt took the fight with Overeem, with a clause in the contract stating that Hunt will get a chunk of Overeem's purse if he happens to be found doping.
Heart of the matter
With the rest of the card still being made, UFC 209 looks set to entertain fight fans, as the matchup between the two heavyweights is a rematch from their first meeting which took place almost a decade ago. Overeem got the better of Hunt via a submission victory in their first bout after just 71 seconds.
Ten years on, these two future Hall of Famers look set to battle once again in a bid to reach the summit of the fight game and possibly become World Heavyweight Champion, before they call it quits to their illustrious careers.
Sportskeeda’s take
For both fighters, it might be the last chance to climb the summit and scale the mountain to become World Champion, but they will first have to overcome each other to see who is next in line to face the reigning champion Stipe Miocic.
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