The Octagon is touching down in Raleigh, North Carolina on Jan. 25 for the first time in promotional history, and it now has a main event.
According to Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Junior dos Santos will take on Curtis Blaydes.
dos Santos was expected to headline UFC Moscow this past weekend, but he was forced off the card with an infection. He expressed interest in re-booking the fight against Alexander Volkov but that won’t happen.
The Brazilian is coming off of a TKO loss to Francis Ngannou in June. Before that, he TKO’d Derrick Lewis in March and TKO’d Tai Tuivasa in December.
The former UFC heavyweight champion in Junior dos Santos is currently ranked fourth in the division.
Curtis Blaydes, meanwhile, is coming off of a dominating win over Shamil Abdurakhimov at UFC 242. There, he used his wrestling to get the TKO ground and pound win. Before that, he beat Justin Willis by a dominant decision win. Blaydes’ only two losses in the UFC are knockout losses to Ngannou.
He is currently ranked third in the division and has notable wins over Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, and Alexey Oleynik.
UFC Raleigh goes down on Jan. 25, which will also be the same night as Cris Cyborg vs. Julia Budd in Bellator.
