This week sees the UFC return to the Apex arena in Las Vegas, after 3 highly successful cards in the middle east. After the successes of all three fight cards at the Etihad Arena, starting with a fight of the year contender between Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar and culminating with an explosive Lightweight rematch 7 years in the making between Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier and ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor.
With still another week to go until the first title fight of 2021, thirteen fights await us on a stacked main and preliminary card, headlined by Alistair Overeem and Alexander Volkov, with a combined 106 professional fights between the two, we should definitely be expecting fireworks and bombs.
Could this be ‘The Demolition Man’s’ last run at a title?
Overeems last bout came on the 6th September 2020 against young Brazilian Augusto Sakai at the UFC Apex arena, resulting in a ground and pound massacre from ‘The Reem’ finishing the fight in the 5th round with a TKO. Could this be Overeem back to his best? Well after a heavy loss to Jairzinho Rozenstruik in late 2019, I think a lot of people thought that this would be the end of ‘The Reem’s’ time in the octagon. But back-to-back wins in 2020 against two fellow top 15 ranked opponents, has chucked Alistair right back into the mix of things at the top. The only downside for Overeem is that he has lost to 4 of the fighters currently above him in the rankings, current champion Stipe Miocic, African powerhouse Ngannou, Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes and UFC newcomer Rozenstruik.
A victory for ‘The Demolition Man’ would also only be the second time in his UFC career that he has gone on a three-fight winning streak, could this be a turning point for the Dutch destroyer?
Like all UFC fans in the world, I would love to see Alistair Overeem become the Heavyweight champion of the world. To see a battle worn veteran like Overeem overcome all of the big guns to win the title would be unbelievable to see.
But first he has to overcome the Russian giant that is Alexander Volkov!
Can the Russian giant put his youth to good use?
Volkov comes into this heavyweight bout on the back of a big TKO finish against fellow heavyweight contender Walt Harris, after putting his crazy reach to good use, a heavy kick to the stomach and a flurry of right handers ended the fight midway through the second round. This is definitely the outcome that Volkov needed, with an up and down couple of years where he beat former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum and former NFL star turned MMA heavy hitter Greg Hardy. Both of these victories coming either side of losses to the current number 3 and 4 ranked heavyweight contenders Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis.
After an incredible start to his UFC career back in 2016 where Volkov registered 4 straight wins against: Timothy Johnson, Roy Nelson, Stefan Struve and Fabricio Werdum. Volkov really was a shining light to the heavy hitting division, with his unbelievable height and reach dominating some legends of the octagon. Then things started to go slightly downhill for ‘Drago’, with his title shot against Miocic starting to slip away, due to his losses against Blaydes and Lewis.
Could a win against ‘The Reem’ propel Volkov to the top? Only time will tell, with both fighters showing amazing reach and insane amounts of power, we have a big fight on our hands. With Volkov odds on favourite, there is indeed pressure on the younger man, and he will be feeling it due to going up against a future hall of famer.
Prediction:
Overeem to win.
UFC fight night: Overeem VS. Volkov
Main card:
- Alistair Overeem vs Alexander Volkov
- Cory Sandhagen vs Frankie Edgar (Co-Main)
- Michael Johnson vs Clay Guida
- Alexandre Pantoja vs Manel Kape
- Cody Stamann vs Askar Askar
- Carlos Diego Ferriera vs Beneil Dariush
Prelims:
- Mike Rodriguez vs Danilo Marques
- Devonte Smith vs Justin Jaynes
- Karol Rosa vs Joselyne Edwards
- Molly McCann vs Lara Procopio
- Choi Seun-Woo vs Youssef Zalal
- Timur Valiev vs Martin Day
- Ode Osbourne vs Jerome Rivera