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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With Cain Velasquez injured for the most of the year, 2011 saw just one UFC Heavyweight Championship fight, and it didn't come until November's Fox debut. The UFC is hoping to see the first Heavyweight Title fight of 2012 a bit earlier than that.
During Tuesday night's "UFC Tonight" program on Fuel TV, UFC President Dana White revealed that they're targeting a tentative summer date for the bout between current Champion Junior dos Santos and newly crowned #1 contender Alistair Overeem.
"Hopefully [that fight will happen] this summer," White said. "This summer is probably when it's going to go down."
While dos Santos is recovering from an injury suffered prior to his win over Velasquez, White said the delay in the fight is actually coming at Overeem's request, as he'd like to take some time off after his UFC 141 win over Brock Lesnar.
"Alistair wants to take some time off," White said. "Dos Santos is ready but needs to get some training in. So hopefully, this summer."
Penick's Analysis: The UFC's mid-year show is expected to come to Las Vegas on July 7, and would be a sensible date for that fight, though it certainly could come a little earlier if both are ready to return. Regardless of how early the first defense comes this year, the UFC should hopefully see the belt on the line twice in 2012 provided there are no other major injuries to those involved. If they put this fight on the July 7 card, they'll have a much bigger event from a pay-per-view standpoint than they were able to provide with Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber last year.
[Alistair Overeem art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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