Alistair Overeem has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 160 bout with Junior dos Santos because of an injury.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the news Wednesday night.
Overeem announced Thursday the injury he suffered was a slightly torn quadriceps.
Injured!Caught a slightly tear in my quad muscle so unfortunatly out of may 25’s UFC.Not happy to let you guys ‘the fans’ down!
— Alistair Overeem (@Alistairovereem) March 7, 2013
Standout heavyweight striker Mark Hunt expressed his desire to step in and fight dos Santos at the May 25 event in Las Vegas. Hunt, who broke Stefan Struve’s jaw in a knockout win last weekend, called out for fans to rally behind him on Twitter.
I want in troops and only the boss @danawhite can make it happen lets go army ATTACK the general wants in on this fight
— mark richard hunt (@markhunt1974) March 7, 2013
However, instead of setting up a Hunt-JDS bout or finding another replacement for Overeem, it appears as though the organization will simply postpone the fight and have it take place at a future event sometime in the summer.
@capnhancock @markhunt1974 @junior_cigano not lookin good. Cigano vs Overeem in the summer
— Dana White (@danawhite) March 7, 2013
This is the second time a fight between Overeem and JDS has been scratched. The two were scheduled to meet in the main event at UFC 146 and fight for the heavyweight title — which dos Santos held at the time — but Overeem failed a pre-fight drug screening and was suspended for nine months.
Overeem (36-12, 1 NC) is coming off an upset knockout loss to Antonio (Bigfoot) Silva at UFC 156.
Dos Santos (15-2) lost for the first time in his UFC career in his last outing, dropping a unanimous decision to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155.
UFC 160 is headlined by a heavyweight title matchup between Velasquez and Silva.