The UFC has rebooked a highly anticipated heavyweight matchup that got cancelled in November. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani is reporting this evening that Derrick Lewis (24-7,1 NC) and Curtis Blaydes (14-2,1 NC) have agreed to a new date.
The UFC has finalized the heavyweight matchup for February 20th. Both men were originally supposed to fight in November, however, a day before the event, Blaydes tested positive for COVID-19 and the fight was scrapped.
There was initial doubt that the UFC would rebook the matchup. However, given the current landscape at heavyweight, pairing these two top contenders against each other makes all the sense in the world.
Derrick Lewis will be looking for his fourth straight victory on February 20th. Lewis last fought in August when he knocked out Alexey Oleynik in the second round of their fight. However, it was a shaky start for The Black Beast.
Lewis was taken down and controlled for a good part of the first round against Oleynik. If he’s going to win on February 20th, his wrestling is going to have to be on point. There’s no secret as to what his opponent is going to do.
UFC heavyweight battle
Curtis Blaydes has been extremely dominant in his run in the UFC. So far, there has only been one man who has been able to beat him. The problem for Blaydes is that he’s lost twice to him.
That man is the top UFC heavyweight contender, Francis Ngannou. However, outside of Ngannou, nobody has had an answer for the wrestling attack of Curtis Blaydes. He’s not flashy, but he knows how to get the job done.
Blaydes has shown improvements in the striking as he showed in his knockout of Junior Dos Santos. However, make no mistake about it, Blaydes is going to be using his wrestling a lot on February 20th.
On paper, this is a really tough matchup for Derrick Lewis. Lewis struggles against strong grapplers and Blaydes might be the best in the division. However, the exciting thing is that with the UFC’s Black Beast, he’s always just one shot away.