Overeem vs. Manuwa added to Dec. 24 Jake Paul vs. Doumbé card

Alistair Overeem will end a layoff of nearly six years when he steps into a boxing ring to face Jimi Manuwa in a heavyweight bout on the Dec. 24 card headlined by Jake Paul vs. Cédric Doumbé, as first reported by Ariel Helwani. It will be Overeem's first fight of any kind since February 2021.

Overeem, 46, is a Dutch veteran with a 47-19 record in MMA. His most recent recorded fight was a second-round TKO loss to Alexander Volkov in February 2021, which followed back-to-back knockout wins over Augusto Sakai and Walt Harris in 2020. Across his MMA career he has landed 3.67 significant strikes per minute at 64 percent accuracy, and he averages 1.42 takedowns per 15 minutes. He trained out of Elevation Fight Team.

Manuwa, 46, is an English light heavyweight who holds a 17-6 MMA record and fights out of Keddles Gym. His most recent recorded fight was a first-round knockout loss to Aleksandar Rakic in June 2019, and it was the last of three straight defeats in our records, following losses to Thiago Santos and Jan Blachowicz. He lands 3.43 significant strikes per minute at 54 percent accuracy.

Why it matters

• Both men are 46, so the bout pairs two longtime strikers who are returning after extended time away from competition.
• Overeem owns the edge in physical dimensions: he is 193 cm tall with a 203 cm reach, against Manuwa's 185 cm and 201 cm. That is an eight-centimetre height gap and a two-centimetre reach gap.
• Overeem's MMA striking accuracy sits ten percentage points above Manuwa's, 64 percent to 54 percent, though those figures come from MMA rather than boxing.

The two men were never matched against each other in the cage, and their recent recorded form points the same way: each has lost by knockout in his most recent recorded fight. The heavyweight boxing contest adds depth to a Christmas Eve card built around Paul and Doumbé.