UFC 160's Junior dos Santos: I admire Mark Hunt, but Alistair Overeem is a joke

I'm not one to take sides ... but ... it's easy to understand why Junior dos Santos is frustrated.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight kingpin was looking forward to settling his score against Alistair Overeem at the upcoming UFC 160 pay-per-view (PPV) event, scheduled for May 25, 2013 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Then "Reem" got hurt and had to withdraw.

Adding insult to injury, literally, is the fact that "Demolition Man" was pegged to fight "Cigano" last year -- also over the Memorial Day Weekend -- but got pulled after popping for elevated testosterone. That's two separate occasions where Overeem couldn't hold up his end of the deal.

Compounded by the fact that he was running his mouth the entire time.

Dos Santos tells Tatame.com it's time to move on against late-replacement Mark Hunt, a fighter he admires for stepping up on short notice, unlike the "joke" that backed out of his fight because of a boo boo.

"I do not pick opponents, so for me it doesn't matter who is the guy I will face. I just need to know a time before to prepare for this opponent. When Overeem jumped out, UFC found another fighter because I can not wait for the fight. [Overeem] is not champion, is nothing. If he was a champion, I would still hold on. I admire Mark Hunt very much for having accepted the fight, since he just fought. I admire and appreciate, because I want to fight on May 25 and it will happen thanks to him. Mark is a very tough guy, beating strong. I have to be very careful. He has been champion in K-1, faced the best in the world and won exchanges. I think [Overeem] is a joke. He is a big guy who is talking a lot of nonsense. I have nothing to do with him, he can follow his career and do what he thinks is best. I'll follow mine and if one day we are bumping and he does not have any problem, we fight."

As far as late-replacements go, Hunt is about as good as you can get.

The "Super Samoan" is riding a four-fight winning streak with three brutal knockouts, including this sensational walk-off KO over Stefan Struve earlier this month in Japan. Both Dos Santos and Hunt prefer to stand and bang, so there's no question we'll see fireworks.

At least until someone drops a bomb.

How about it Maniacs, anyone think the Brazilian is being too hard on the Dutchman? Or does "The Reem" have no one to blame but himself?