Heavyweight knockout artists Alistair Overeem and Francis Ngannou are set to throw down and compete for a likely title shot at UFC 218, the organization announced Wednesday night.
Overeem (43-15, 1 NC) has won six of his past seven fights with his lone loss coming to current champion Stipe Miocic one year ago. Overeem, 37, bounced back from that loss with a TKO of Mark Hunt in March and he walked away from July’s UFC 213 with a unanimous decision over Fabricio Werdum, in which Overeem won the first two rounds before being dominated in the final stanza.
Ngannou (10-1) is 5-0 in the UFC since making his promotional debut in December 2015 with all five of his wins coming by stoppage. The 31-year-old hasn’t fought since knocking out Andrei Arlovski in 92 seconds in January. The Cameroonian had been scheduled to fight Junior dos Santos at UFC 215 in Edmonton earlier this month, however that bout was removed from the event after dos Santos was flagged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency for a potential doping violation.
UFC 218 will take place Dec. 2 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
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