Potential Heavyweight title eliminator is headlining the Fight Night on November 28. The main event will be Curtis Blaydes vs Derrick Lewis. Both fighters have the opposite style of fighting and it would be interesting to see how the fight would play.
Although the fight card is not stacked and no other big names are in the card, there is still potential the card might deliver. Sometimes big cards don’t deliver, so there is a chance small cards can deliver as well.
Curtis Blaydes is a chain wrestler that does not stop attempting a takedown. His style is similar to Khabib but in heavyweight. He has taken down all of his opponents other than Francis Ngannou.
Curtis Blaydes only has 2 losses on his record and both come from Ngannou. It is safe to say that Blaydes is a top contender in the division since he beat everyone that is put in front of him except Ngannou.
In Blaydes’s last fight against Volkov, he seemed to show cardio issues where he got tired in the later rounds. Although in the scorecards the fight was not close, Volkov had good moments in the fight that may show Blaydes’s weakness.
The only proven way for Blaydes’s loss was Ngannou’s power but no other fighter has Ngannou’s power. The punch didn’t even land flush on Ngannou but he still got floored, Curtis’s defense is good it was just that power is too much.
Derrick Lewis has shown to have a great recovery from takedown due to his size and power. He gets taken down a lot but always stands up easily. It is interesting if Blaydes hold him long on the ground or Lewis will just stand up.
It is almost funny watching Lewis just stand up from takedowns that easily. The only problem for Lewis is that Blaydes does not stop attempting takedowns. If he is unsuccessful, he will try and try again until he succeeds.
Derrick Lewis also has knockout power, so that may be a huge factor coming into the fight. His most notable win was against Alexander Volkov, where he was losing the fight and in the final minute of the round he knocked out Volkov and won the fight.
The two fighters who beat Ngannou in UFC are only current champion Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis. Though many believe that Lewis was not the better fighter but rather Ngannou was not there that night. It was worth noting that Ngannou came off in a one-sided title match against Miocic.
Francis Ngannou surely deserves the next title shot but UFC has not yet announced it. Jon Jones is also planning to move up so, he may get an immediate title shot given his resume.
But if Blaydes wins, he has technically cleared the division’s contenders. He has wins against all the top contenders Overeem, Junior Dos Santos, and Alexander Volkov. The only name in the top 5 he has not fought is Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Another interesting fact is Curtis Blaydes is always the betting favorite in all of his fights. Even in the Ngannou Match and rematch, he was still the favorite.
