Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis now have a new date to lock horns, with the two heavyweights colliding on February 20.
Following an initial report from ESPN, multiple sources have confirmed that Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis will now headline the February 20 Fight Night card. This bout was originally scheduled to take place in November, but the fight had to be postponed after Blaydes tested positive for COVID. This fight will be the first fight between two top-5 heavyweights in quite some time, and there certainly could be some title implications attached to the bout.
#1 Contender Fight?
Unfortunately for both combatants, they could be in for a long wait for a title shot regardless of how impressive the winner looks in the bout because not only is the UFC committed to making Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou next, but Jon Jones has been reported to be the UFC’s choice to face the winner of the bout later that year. If this comes to pass, the trend of long waiting times for heavyweight contenders will continue for the winner of this bout, but you can expect both men to fight with the urgency of an immediate title shot hanging in the balance.
Curtis Blaydes is currently ranked #2 and would perhaps be most likely to receive a crack of the winner of Miocic vs. Blaydes if Jon Jones did not enter the division. Blaydes is currently on a four-fight win streak with half of these wins coming by way of stoppage. In his most recent bout, Blaydes defeated Alexander Volkov via unanimous decision in June.
#4-ranked Derrick Lewis knows what it’s like to fight for a world championship, and over two years after his only UFC title shot, Lewis is putting in the work to position himself for another one. He will have a tall task ahead of him in Curtis Blaydes, though, who has only lost to Francis Ngannou in his UFC career. Lewis will look to advance his winning streak to four straight with a victory over Curtis Blaydes in February and either get a title shot or a sure-fire #1 contender fight afterward.
The current February 20 Fight Night card includes the following bouts:
Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis
Matt Brown vs. Carlos Condit
Chris Daukaus vs. Aleksei Oleinik
Darrick Minner vs. Charles Rosa
Jai Herbert vs. Drakkar Klose
Danny Chavez vs. Jared Gordon
Shana Dobson vs. Casey O’Neill
Jamall Emmers vs. Chas Skelly
Vinicius Moreira vs. Ike Villanueva
Who do you predict will win between Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis on February 20?
