The MGM Grand Garden Arena will host MMA future betting action that is as good as it gets with a card that features five bouts on the main card headlined by the heavyweight matchup of Brock Lesnar vs. Allstair Overeem.

The action will start earlier than normal for UFC at 10 PM ET on this special Friday, December 30th edition. The winner of the Lesnar vs. Overeem bout is expected to face Junior dos Santos for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at a later date. UFC 141 is also expected to be the last that will offer preliminary bouts for free on Spike TV.

Lesnar is one of the most popular and appealing fighters in the UFC with a career record of 5-2 after losing his last bout over a year ago to Cain Velasquez by TKO at the 4:12 mark of the first round. The loss snapped a four-bout winning streak. Lesnar was the reigning heavyweight champion and was seeking to successfully defend his title for the third straight bout. Lesnar won the heavyweight title with a win over Rand Couture at UFC 91 in November of 2008. Lesnar’s popularity and stature is confirmed by the fact that he is the highest paid member of the UFC.

Overeem is a “rookie” that will be in his first UFC bout as he signed with the series on September 6, 2011 after being kicked out of GP/Strikeforce due to a scheduling dispute. He has a career record of 35-11 and was the Dream Heavyweight Champion before vacating the throne.

Also on the UFC 141 main card are Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone in a lightweight bout. In welterweight action Jon Fitch will take on Johny Hendricks, Vladimir Matyushenko will match up with Alexander Gustafsson in a light heavyweight bout and in featherweight action Nam Phan will face Jimy Hettes.

In the Spike TV Preliminary Card, Ross Pearson will take on Junior Assuncao in a featherweight fight while in the lightweight ranks Anthony Njokuani will face Danny Castillo.

Preliminary Card bouts on Facebook include Jacob Volkmann vs. Efrain Escudero in Lightweight action, Matt Riddle vs. Luis Ramos in Welterweight action, Manvel Gamburyan vs. Diego Nunes in the featherweight ranks and Dong Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson in the welterweight class.

It should be an exciting night of action on December 30th with great MMA future betting action.

Lost in a weekend that saw the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinals take place were some big fight announcements from the UFC.

Here is a look at three different UFC events that have added to their cards.

– UFC 140 in Toronto go its main event as heavyweights Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will have their rematch. The two met back at UFC 92 with Mir handing Nogueira his first stoppage loss. Mir KO’d Big Nog in the second round. Nogueira claimed a staph infection hindered his abilities and has been seeking a rematch since. Mir has won his last two fights and looking to get back into the title hunt with a win while Nogueira is coming off his KO win over Brendan Schaub at UFC Rio. UFC 140 also added Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Brian Ebersole vs. Rory MacDonald to the lineup.

– UFC 139 picked up a big fight as middleweight Vitor Belfort will return to action when he takes on former Strikeforce champion, Cung Le. This will be a battle of perhaps the two fastest strikers in all of MMA. Le hasn’t fought since June of 2010, when he KO’d Scott Smith to avenge his only loss. Belfort is coming off a KO win over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133. This fight should come down to which fighter strikes first.

– Jon Fitch will make his long-awaited return to the octagon at UFC 141 when he faces off with Johny Hendricks. Fitch hasn’t competed since February when he had a draw against B.J. Penn. Fitch had shoulder surgery that put him on the shelf for a while. Fitch hasn’t lost since his 2008 title fight with Georges St. Pierre. Hendricks has one loss in his career, to Rick Story back in December of 2010. He has won his last two fights, but is facing the toughest opponent of his career when he squares off with Fitch.

The UFC has been big with their announcements and another big one dropped on Tuesday.

The organization released through the L.A. Times that on Dec. 30, Alistair Overeem will make his UFC debut against none other than Brock Lesnar.

Brock Lesnar will return to the UFC octagon in a five-round main event Dec. 30 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, facing newly signed former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.

“Brock is a big name, a dangerous guy, and this is a dream matchup,” Overeem told The Times on Tuesday, just after signing a standard UFC fight contract in the office of Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta. “Brock’s a big guy, an exciting wrestler with his takedowns.

“I want to see this fight myself. Overall, I’m a different fighter. A striker, athletic, big. These are going to be two big trucks going at it on a collision course.”

This fight will be as anticipated as the Velasquez vs. dos Santos bout on Nov. 12, if not more, as Lesnar has the drawing power and Overeem was the last Strikeforce champion.

It is expected that this will be the main event of UFC 141 from Las Vegas and will take place on a Friday night, with New Year’s Eve being on a Saturday this year.

In terms of the fight, this should be explosive and very interesting. Overeem has the clear striking edge, but will he be able to fend off the explosive takedown attempts of Lesnar?

Either way, I don’t see this fight lasting too long.