MARK HUNT VS. STEFAN STRUVE OFFICIAL FOR UFC ON FUEL TV 8 IN JAPAN
BY DANN STUPP ON DEC 05, 2012 AT 9:45 AM ET

A clash between heavyweight contenders Mark Hunt (8-7 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and Stefan Struve (25-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC) is now official for UFC on FUEL TV 8 in Japan.

MMAjunkie.com passed along news of the rumored fight on Tuesday, and UFC officials since have made it official.

The event takes place March 3 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Following Facebook prelims, the night's main card airs on FUEL TV (on March 2 in the U.S. due to the time difference).

Struve vs. Hunt will be part of the main card.

The heavyweights initially were slated to fight in May on the heavyweights-only UFC 146 main card, but Hunt was forced off the card with a knee injury.

Struve went on to beat replacement Lavar Johnson at UFC 146, and then he headlined UFC on FUEL TV 5 and knocked out Stipe Miocic. The 7-foot Dutchman now has won four straight fights and six of his past seven, all via stoppage and all in the UFC.

Hunt, meanwhile, is in the midst of a career resurgence. Since a six-fight losing skid, which included a series of PRIDE fights and a UFC-debut loss to Sean McCorkle, the New Zealander has posted consecutive UFC wins over Chris Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell and Cheick Kongo.