UFC 203 will feature the first heavyweight title defence for new champion Stipe Miocic as he will put the gold on the line against Alistair Overeem, the promotion has announced.

twitter embed

The event will take place at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland and will be the first UFC event in the city and the first time the promotion has run a card in the state of Ohio since 2009.

Miocic, a Cleveland native, put the finishing touches on his title chase with a first round KO victory over Fabricio Werdum in the main event of UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil to earn his first UFC belt.

The 33-year-old had previously defeated both Mark Hunt and Andrei Arlovski to earn his way into the title shot.

Overeem enters the title fight on a four fight winning streak with triumphs over Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Junior dos Santos and most recently Arlovski on his resume.

Over his career, he has also bested former heavyweight champions such as Werdum, Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar.