A heavyweight fight between Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris is scheduled to headline the upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Portland, Ore. on April 11.
The UFC announced the main event along with several more fights via Oregon Live.
The matchup was originally scheduled this past December but Harris fell out of the fight after his stepdaughter Aniah Blanchard, 19, went missing in Alabama in October 2019.
Tragically, Blanchard’s remains were found a month later with an autopsy confirming she was killed as a result of a gunshot wound. A man named Ibraheem Yazeed was later arrested and charged with Blanchard’s murder.
For obvious reasons, Harris stayed focused on his family in the aftermath of his stepdaughter’s death but he recently got back in the gym again while targeting an April return to action.
Now, the 36-year-old heavyweight will look to build on a four-fight unbeaten streak including knockouts over Aleksei Oleinik and Sergey Spivak in his last two appearances inside the Octagon.
As for Overeem, he will look to bounce back after he suffered a late knockout courtesy of Jairzinho Rozenstruik, who replaced Harris in that fight. That loss stopped a two-fight win streak for Overeem after he finished Oleink and Sergei Pavlovich in consecutive appearances.
In addition to Overeem vs. Harris confirmed as the main event, several more fights were also announced on the card.
Former women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza will face off with Michelle Waterson while Vicente Luque battles Randy Brown in welterweight action.
Tristan Connelly will face Alex da Silva at lightweight, Don’Tale Mayes takes on Rodrigo Mascimento at heavyweight, Markuz Perez clashes with Alessio Di Chirico and Julia Avila meets Karol Rosa in women’s bantamweight action on the card.
More fights for the UFC Portland show will be announced in the coming weeks.