MMA
Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff Writer 4y

Sources: UFC eyeing Alistair Overeem vs. Augusto Sakai for Sept. 5 card

UFC

The UFC is eyeing a heavyweight contender bout to headline a card in September.

Alistair Overeem vs. Augusto Sakai is targeted for the UFC Fight Night main event Sept. 5, sources told ESPN on Tuesday. The location has not been determined.

The UFC is running all of July in Abu Dhabi before returning home to Las Vegas for five cards in August. Overeem vs. Sakai has yet to be made official by the UFC.

Overeem (46-18, 1 NC) is coming off a second-round TKO of Walt Harris in a main event bout May 16 in Jacksonville, Florida. He has won three of his past four bouts and currently sits at No. 10 in ESPN's MMA heavyweight rankings.

Overeem, 40, is a surefire future UFC Hall of Famer. A native of the Netherlands, he is a former Strikeforce and Dream heavyweight champion and owns wins over former UFC champions Brock Lesnar, Fabricio Werdum (twice), Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski and Vitor Belfort.

Sakai (15-1-1) is one of the hottest fighters in the heavyweight division. The Brazil native has won six straight fights, including his first four in the UFC. The 29-year-old is coming off a split-decision win over Blagoy Ivanov at UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Burns on May 30. His only career loss came to UFC veteran Cheick Kongo under the Bellator banner. 

No other bouts have been announced for the UFC Fight Night card Sept. 5.

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