A heavyweight clash between leading contenders Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis has now been rescheduled for UFC Fight Night 185 on February 20th at a location still to be confirmed.
The fight had originally been set to headline UFC On ESPN 18 back in November, but had to be pulled from the line-up after Blaydes tested positive for Covid-19, but the promotion opted to simply postponed the match-up rather than find a new opponent for ‘The Black Beast’ on short notice.
It’s easy to see why the UFC chose to keep this fight intact as it’s an important one for the division given that Blaydes is the No.2 ranked contender, while Lewis is only two spots behind him at No.4.
Blaydes has risen close to the summit of the heavyweight mountain after compiling a four-fight winning streak in the two past two years that’s seen him beat Justin Willis on points, TKO both Shamil Abdurakhimov and Junior dos Santos, and then earn a decision victory over Alexander Volkov.
Meanwhile, Lewis has picked up a trio of wins that started off with a split decision victory over Blagoy Ivanov, followed by another win on the scorecards against Ilir Latifi and then a TKO stoppage of Aleksei Oleinik.
Blaydes vs. Lewis is expected to headline a UFC Fight Night 185 card that will also feature Ketlen Vieira vs. Yana Kunitskaya.
