The UFC‘s Black Beast has booked his return and his return will take place in July. ESPN reported earlier this afternoon that the promotion has booked a heavyweight contest between Derrick Lewis (26-9, 1 NC) and Sergei Pavlovich (15-1).
The match will take place on July 30th. While the event has not been officially announced, it’s expected that UFC 277 will play host to the card on July 3oth which means The Black Beast is back on PPV.
Standing in his way of a successful return is Pavlovich who will be entering the octagon on a three-fight winning streak. Last time we saw Pavlovich was back in March when he took on Shamil Abdurakhimov. In that fight, he scored a first round TKO finish.
He is now 3-0 with three first round stoppages in his last three UFC appearances. Pavlovich debuted with the promotion back in 2018 against Alistair Overeem. He was unbeaten at the time and went on to lose by first round TKO. He’s been perfect since then, but he’ll have his hands full in July.
Return of the UFC’s Black Beast
It has been a crazy year for Derrick Lewis in the UFC. In March of 2021, The Black Beast took on Curtis Blaydes in The APEX. Blaydes was a huge favorite, but Lewis showed off his ungodly power by knocking Blaydes out stiff in the second round.
Following that, he got an interim title fight against Ciryl Gane in his hometown of Houston, Texas. Lewis looked really flat at UFC 265 and was stopped in the third round by Gane. Following that loss, he fought Chris Daukaus and scored a first round knockout in The APEX.
The UFC gave Lewis another shot at a win in Houston when they booked him against Tai Tuivasa in January. Lewis was looking really good in the fight and rocked Tuivasa a couple of times. However, “Bam Bam” wouldn’t go away and ultimately stopped Lewis in the second.
Now, The Black Beast will look to bounce back at UFC 277. Since joining the UFC, Lewis is 6-1 coming off of a loss with five knockouts.