Walt Harris: Alistair Overeem can expect much different fight with me than Jairzinho Rozenstruik

LAS VEGAS – Alistair Overeem has shown new wrinkles to his game, but don’t expect them to work on Walt Harris.

Harris (13-7 MMA, 6-6 UFC) headlines UFC on ESPN+ 30 against Overeem (45-17 MMA, 10-6 UFC) in a fight that’s been rebooked from their previous scheduled meeting last Decembe. Harris withdrew from that fight after his step-daughter, Aniah Blanchard, was kidnapped; she later was found murdered after a one-month search.

Harris was replaced by Jairzinho Rozenstruik, who, after being out-grappled and controlled for nearly a full five rounds, scored a Hail Mary comeback knockout with under 10 seconds left.

But Harris guarantees his fight with Overeem will go a lot differently.

“I present him a lot of different challenges than Rozenstruik,” Harris told MMA Junkie. “Don’t plan on seeing me get laid on for four rounds or whatever it was. It’s going to be an exciting fight. I got a bigger chip on my shoulder than I had than the first one when it was announced, so it should be fun.”

Harris is coming off two straight first-round “Performance of the Night” finishes over Sergey Spivak and Aleksei Oleinik, both in under a minute. And he hopes that a win over a notable name like former UFC heavyweight title challenger Overeem will propel him one step closer to title contention.

“I think the winner, which will be me, will fit right in the middle, the thick of things. I mean, you can kinda call your shot,” Harris said. “Derrick Lewis is out there, like you said, (Franics) Ngannou and Rozenstruik. It’ll be fun to kinda see how it all plays out after those fights take place, my fight takes place.”

Having finished every one of his pro fights, Harris is expecting another finish, this time fueled by a little added motivation.

“Dramatic fashion like always,” Harris said. “Big-time knockout. We gotta grapple, we gotta wrestle, we’ll do that, too. We’ll prepare to go wherever the fight goes.”

The death of his step-daughter will forever impact him, but Harris knows that he has to power through for his family.

“I just feel like that’s what my daughter would want,” Harris said. “She’s witnessed me work so hard to get here, and she’s sacrificed so much, as well as my wife and my other kid, so I couldn’t just fall off the face of the earth and let this get the best of me. I had to get my mind back focused and continue the mission.”

To hear more from Harris, watch the video above.