Photo taken from UFC.com
Fresh from a shocking one-round beatdown of Fabricio Werdum, newly crowned UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic, already has a new challenger lined up—in the form of Dutch striking powerhouse, Alistair Overeem.
The news was confirmed on the UFC’s website on Thursday, marking the promotion’s return to Miocic’s home state of Cleveland, Ohio, since 2009.
Miocic (15-2), who’s born to Croatian immigrants, has won 4 of his last 5 bouts en route to seizing the title earlier this month at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil.
The Cleveland native rose up the ranks after trampling heavyweight veterans such as Mark Hunt and Andrei Arlovski, in devastating fashion.
He came in as a heavy underdog against the ex-champ Werdum, up until a short right hand midway through the opening round shut the lights out for the Brazilian.
His last defeat came way back in December of last year, after dropping a controversial unanimous decision against Junior Dos Santos—a fight many believe should have gone his favor.
Meanwhile, his opponent, Overeem (41-14-1) owns an equally impressive win streak, much like the champion.
The 6’4 behemoth out of the Netherlands, struggled early in his UFC career, but managed to turn things around and reel off four straight victories.
The ‘Reem’ is coming off an impressive technical knockout victory over his teammate Arlovski at UFC Fight Night 87 earlier this month.
He holds notable victories over Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve, while besting former champions Dos Santos and Frank Mir as well.
UFC 203 takes place on Sept. 10 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Other scheduled bouts have yet to be confirmed, as of this story’s writing. Khristian Ibarrola