Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Curtis Blaydes talks up his chances in his upcoming headliner versus Derrick Lewis.
Heayvweights Alistair Overeem and Augusto Sakai will battle it out in the main event of UFC Vegas 9 this weekend. The next heavyweight headliner coming to the small UFC APEX cage is Derrick Lewis vs. Curtis Blaydes, scheduled for November 28.
Lewis vs. Blaydes has more title implications than this weekend’s offering. With both men ranked in the top three it’s highly likely that the victor in their contest will be sitting on the precipice of a heavyweight title fight.
Lewis recently performed, and won, at UFC Vegas 6, beating Aleksei Oleinik in impressive fashion. In his post fight press conference ‘the Black Beast’ said Blaydes was his next target. Blayde’s response: ‘Lol Challenge Accepted.’
Lol Challenge Accepeted https://t.co/F5pIYhp6l1
— Curtis Blaydes (@RazorBlaydes265) August 9, 2020
Blaydes recently spoke to Nick Baldwin of theScore about the match-up, which is one he said he’s wanted for a very long time.
“I’ve been calling him out for almost two years now, so eventually I knew it was going to happen,” he said. “He can only hide for so long.”
Blaydes said that his fight with Lewis was pretty unavoidable given their closeness in the rankings and their availability.
“There isn’t anyone else worth a fight,” said Blaydes. “I’m not gonna take on a guy ranked eighth or 10th or whatever.”
“He has to fight me,” he continued. “Who else would it be? There’s no one else for him to fight. … Unless [Lewis] wants to take on a guy ranked eighth, ninth, or 10th, I’m the only guy worth it.”
Regardless how and why it came together Blaydes said he’s happy to be active and glad to be facing someone he thinks he will find a lot of success with.
“He’s a great match-up, he’s ranked right below me, and he’s very beatable.”
Lewis has been beaten 7 times in his 32-fight career. His last loss came in 2019, versus former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. Just prior to that second round knockout, Lewis lost a title fight to then-heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier. Since those defeats Lewis has gone 3-0 with wins over Blagoy Ivanov, Ilir Latifi and Oleinik.
Blaydes, who is 14-2 (1), is 4-0 since his last loss. He’s beaten Alexander Volkov, Junior dos Santos, Shamil Abdurakhimov and Justin Willis during that run. His last loss was to current number one contender Francis Ngannou in 2018.