In a recent turn of events, a former UFC title contender has moved to professional wrestling. The former MMA fighter will fight in the main event bout in June.

Alistair Overeem is a former UFC heavyweight star who was released from his contract in March 2021. Overeem, at one point, was bound to face Junior Dos Santos for the UFC heavyweight title, but the fight couldn’t go through due to unforeseen circumstances.

Despite this, the 42-year-old Dutch fighter made a name for himself in the MMA world with his immaculate fighting style. He even defeated WWE legend and former UFC champion, Brock Lesnar, himself back in 2011.

His career in MMA ended after leaving the UFC. However, the fight in him didn’t. Overeem is planning to revive his career, albeit in a different sport altogether. The former kickboxer has turned to professional wrestling and will face Adam Scherr at the WES event in England.

Scherr earned fame with his Braun Strowman avatar in WWE, where he was part of the infamous Wyatt Family. It will be the professional wrestling debut for Alistair Overeem at the June 4 event at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England.

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‘The Demolition Man’ had an impressive run in the UFC, winning 12 of his 20 fights. His overall professional MMA record also stands at an impressive 47-19 which speaks for itself.

Fans react to Alistair Overeem’s pro wrestling debut

Fans had a mixed reaction to the news of Overeem making his professional wrestling debut next month. While no one can deny Overeem’s legendary status in the combat sports world, many doubt his intentions behind switching to pro wrestling.

Some fans even reminded him of his comments on professional wrestling a few months ago on Ariel Helwani’s podcast. Recently, while appearing on ‘The MMA Hour’ show, Overeem called pro wrestling ‘lame and fake.’

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UFC fighters turned pro wrestlers

Obviously, this is not the first instance of an MMA fighter turning to pro wrestling at some point in their career. There have been several fighters who crossed over various combat sports and even succeeded in different sports.

Brock Lesnar is a prime example of the same. The 44-year-old WWE legend was part of the UFC not once but twice in his career before moving back to WWE. Lesnar even became the UFC heavyweight champion in 2009 by defeating Frank Mir with a TKO.

Another top UFC figure and former heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez, turned to pro wrestling in the later years. In 2019, he joined a Mexican professional wrestling promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. However, after a short stint at AAA, Velasquez moved to the top pro wrestling promotion WWE.

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He faced Brock Lesnar at the Crown Jewel for the WWE Championship and lost. Later, he was released from his WWE contract during the global pandemic.