After the long overdue signing of one of the world’s top heavyweights, Alistair Overeem, the UFC provides him with his first test, and a stiff one at that—Brock Lesnar. This is the reason why MMA continues to outshine my favorite sport, boxing, because almost every fight is the next one we want to see. I can’t imagine a better heavyweight match up beyond Velasquez/Dos Santos than this one.

For those of you who can make the arrangements to go see it, you should do so, here at LavaTickets.

Lesnar’s coming off his second bout of diverticulitis, and is looking to redeem himself after two lackluster striking performances in a row. In his pairing with Velasquez, you saw what happens to a fighter whose previous strengths are no longer significant advantages. In that fight, Cain’s boxing was far superior to Brock’s, and his formerly indomitable wrestling appeared to be neutralized by a guy with a similar pedigree.

Not much changes in his upcoming match up with Alistair at UFC 141, with Overeem coming in as the favorite at -140 and Brock the slight dog at +110.

Overeem being the world class kickboxer that he is, Lesnar will most certainly need to rely on his wrestling background (the Division 1 Wrestling kind…not the other) unless he wants to suffer the same type of embarrassment that befell him in his last two fights on the feet.

Otherwise, he’s in for a long night…or perhaps a better expression in this case would be a short night. A very very short night.