Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is sorting through some of its 265-pound clutter as Top 10 heavyweights Curtis Blaydes and Shamil Abdurakhimov are expected to hook ‘em up at the upcoming UFC 242 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sept. 7 in Abu Dhabi.
That’s according to MMA journalist Farah Hannoun.
Blaydes (11-2, 1 NC) is stuck in a holding pattern at No. 4, having lost his only two UFC fights to top contender Francis Ngannou. “Razor” recently got back into the win column at the expense of Justin Willis at UFC Fight Night 148 back in March.
As for Abdurakhimov (20-4), he was planished by Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 102 back in late 2016, but then came roaring back with a three-fight win streak, two of which ended by way of knockout. “Abrek,” ranked No. 10, stands at 5-2 under the UFC banner.
UFC 242 is expected to be headlined by the lightweight title unification bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier. Elsewhere on the card, Belal Muhammad is scheduled to collide with Takashi Sato.