Alistair Overeem overcame early trouble and rallied to stop Walt Harris in the second round of their heavyweight bout Saturday night in the UFC Fight Night headliner in an empty VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The stoppage came at the 3 minute mark. With the win, Overeem joined Aleksei Oleinik as the only active UFC fighters to win MMA fights in four different decades.
Harris swarmed Overeem with a two-punch combination and dropped him against the cage about a minute into the first round. Overeem attempted to scramble away, but Harris continued to rain punches down as Overeem covered up.
The fight appeared close to being stopped, but though a cut had opened near his left eye, Overeem managed to survive the onslaught and returned to his feet.
Seconds later, Overeem got Harris on the ground, eventually gaining top position, and he inflicted damage for much of the last two minutes of the round.
Overeem had Harris in big trouble midway through Round 2, landing a massive kick to the head and following with two more punches that floored Harris. Overeem took Harris’ back and continued to land strikes, eventually flattening Harris out. With Harris not fighting back, referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in and waved it off.
Overeem outlanded Harris 68-25, including 41-1 in the second round.
The fight was initially booked for last December, but Harris withdrew after his stepdaughter Aniah Blanchard was shot to death in November. This was Harris’ first bout since then.
Harris (13-8, 1 NC), a 36-year-old Alabama native, was just beginning to find himself in the UFC before the family tragedy. He entered Saturday night unbeaten in his four previous fights, including a 12-second knockout of Aleksei Oleinik at UFC San Antonio in is previous bout July 2019.
Overeem (46-18, 1 NC), 39, bounced back from a devastating loss in December when he was knocked out by Jairzinho Rozenstruik with 4 seconds left in a bout Overeem was winning. Before that loss he had won two straight.