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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC Heavyweight Championship showdown between Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem is being targeted for the UFC's Memorial Day weekend UFC 146 event in Las Vegas.
UFC owner and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta revealed the planned date during an insomnia induced Twitter session, as he was answering questions for a number of fans.
Overeem earned his shot at the belt in his UFC debut in December, taking out Brock Lesnar with a brutal body assault in the first round that sent him into retirement. The former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion and K-1 World Grand Prix champion will attempt to capture the biggest title of his combat sports career.
Standing in front of him, however, is the very deserving Champion dos Santos. The 27-year-old made his presence known in the heavyweight division upon his entrance to the UFC, knocking out Fabricio Werdum in his debut in 2008. He then went through the ranks, taking out six more opponents before finally getting his shot at the title.
He took full advantage of that opportunity, knocking out Cain Velasquez in the first round of the UFC's inaugural event on Fox.
Penick's Analysis: It looked like it was being penciled in for the July 7 event, but they instead they're moving it up just a bit. The Memorial Day weekend cards are typically big events for the UFC, and with a bout between Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir also being targeted for this event, it could be a very big top two fights on this card. The Velasquez gets past Mir, he still may need one more win to get back into a title fight considering how quickly he lost to dos Santos the first time, but the UFC may be more inclined to get him in there quicker if he's impressive over Mir.
[Junior dos Santos art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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