EVENT CANCELLED
This April, heavyweight matchup between Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem (10-6 UFC) and Walt “The Big Ticket” Harris (6-6 UFC) has been lined up in Portland, Oregon.
The pair initially was scheduled to headline UFC last December in Washington D.C., but Harris withdrew from the fight after the unexpected disappearance of his stepdaughter, Aniah Blanchard, who was later found murdered after a one-month search.
For obvious reasons, “The Big Ticket” stayed focused on his family in the aftermath of his stepdaughter’s tragic death but he recently got back in the gym to return to fighting fit action.
Jairzinho “Bigi Boy” Rozenstruik stepped in to replace Harris and scored a comeback knockout victory over Overeem with just four seconds remaining in the fight.
Now back in action, Harris will now look to hold onto a four-fight unbeaten streak including knockouts over Aleksei Oleinik and Sergey Spivak in his last two appearances. The heavyweight was almost on a four-fight streak, but his December 2018 win over Andrei Arlovski was deemed a “No Contest” after he tested positive for the banned substance, Ligandrol.
Known for being a heavy-handed striker, Harris is looking to finish Overeem as quickly as he did both Aleksei Oleinik and Sergey Spivak in a record blitz of under one minute each. Harris also holds wins over heavyweight contenders, Daniel Spitz and Chase Sherman, and hopes to continue his rise up the division by netting the biggest win of his career.
As for Overeem, he will look to bounce back after “The Demolition Man” himself was destroyed by a late knockout and a damaged upper lip, by Jairzinho Rozenstruik, who replaced Harris in that fight. That loss stopped a two-fight win streak for Overeem after he finished Oleink and Sergei Pavlovich in his previous consecutive appearances.
Despite losing his streak, Overeem, over the course of his fighting career, has earned thrilling victories over former UFC heavyweight champions Junior Dos Santos, Fabricio Werdum and Andrei Arlovski. Overeem is now looking to re-assert himself as a title threat.
Alongside the main event, former women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza will face off with Michelle Waterson, while Vicente Luque battles Randy Brown in welterweight action.
For Waterson, this will be the first time (5-3) she will compete since a unanimous decision loss to Joanna Jedrzejczyk last October. Prior to that loss, Waterson had won three straight fights against Courtney Casey, Felice Herrig and Karolina Kowalkiewicz, respectively.
As for Esparza (6-4), she’s won back-to-back fights and is looking to continue her blitz. The former women’s strawweight champion has picked up victories in four of her most recent six bouts.
Meanwhile, Randy Brown (12-3) has his sights set for his third consecutive win. In his last fight, he took down Warley Alves via submission. However his opponent, Vicente Luque “The Silent Assassin” is just as determined to get into the Octagon.
Currently, he is ranked #13 in the UFC Welterweight division and is coming off of a unanimous decision loss to Stephen Thompson back in November. Prior to that, Luque was on a six-fight win streak. He is 10-2 in his last twelve fights.
Also in the undercards, Tristan Connelly will face Alex da Silva at lightweight, Don’Tale Mayes takes on Rodrigo Nascimento at heavyweight, Markus Perez clashes with Alessio Di Chirico and Julia Avila meets Karol Rosa in women’s bantamweight action on the card.
Main Card showing live from 12 PM AEST | 12:30 PM SA | 11:30 AM NT | WA 10 AM (undercard will show earlier).
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MAIN CARD
Heavyweight Bout
Walt Harris vs. Alistair Overeem
UNDERCARD
Women’s Strawweight Bout
Carla Esparza vs. Michelle Waterson
Welterweight Bout
Vicente Luque vs. Randy Brown
Middleweight Bout
Eryk Anders vs. Krzysztof Jotko
Welterweight Bout
Niko Price vs. Muslim Salikhov
Middleweight Bout
Derek Brunson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
Middleweight Bout
Markus Perez vs. Alessio Di Chiricio