Cape Town - It has been a good week for Alistair Overeem.
Not only did he ink himself a new UFC deal, he now has an opponent for the main event of the UFC’s card in Rotterdam, according to a tweet from Jeremy Botter.
The former Strikeforce and Dream champion is set to take on Andrei Arlovski, a current training partner, in the main event of his home-coming bout at UFC Rotterdam according to Nick Strickland from MMA LatestNews.com
Overeem (40-14-1) is riding a three-fight win streak after he stopped Junior dos Santos in December at UFC on Fox: dos Anjos vs. Cerrone 2.
The impressive win over former champion dos Santos was the catalyst to the new deal as it was Overeem’s last contracted bout. With wins over Roy Nelson, Stefan Struve and Frank Mir to his name, Overeem may well be expected to be on the verge of a title shot.
Standing in his way is Andrei Arlovski.
Arlovski (25-11-1) was riding an impressive six-fight win streak into his last outing against Stipe Miocic at UFC 195 in January.
Unfortunately for the former UFC champion it was not his night, as Miocic managed to knock out Arlovski early in round 1.
Since returning to the UFC in June of 2014, the Belarusian has knocked off Frank Mir, Travis Browne, Antônio Silva and Brendan Schaub.
With both men having earned the majority of their wins by way of KO/TKO, this meeting of two of Mike Winkeljohn’s and Greg Jackson’s most celebrated warriors promises to be an entertaining one.
UFC Fight Night 87 will take place on May 8, at the Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
It will mark the promotion’s first stop in the country.