[autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] and [autotag]Alexander Volkov[/autotag] still have their date set to meet inside the octagon.
A heavyweight clash between Blaydes and Volkov will headline a UFC Fight Night event June 20 at a to-be-determined location, although the UFC Apex in Las Vegas is expected to host. The fight was mentioned during the UFC on ESPN 9 broadcast this past Saturday and announced Wednesday on social media.
Blaydes and Volkov originally were expected to headline UFC Saskatoon on the same date, but the card was canceled because of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Blaydes (13-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) is riding a three-fight winning streak entering the bout. After losing to Francis Ngannou in November 2018, Blaydes stormed back to defeat Justin Willis, Shamil Aburakhimov and former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos.
Following his TKO win over Dos Santos in January, Blaydes voiced his hope for a title fight. However, Blaydes said he wouldn’t be willing to sit around and wait for other championship fights to happen before him.
As for Volkov (31-7 MMA, 5-1), the Russian big man punched his ticket back into the win column last November. On home soil, Volkov picked apart former NFL star Greg Hardy en route to a unanimous decision victory.
The current June 20 lineup includes:
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Alexander Volkov
- Raquel Pennington vs. Marion Reneau
- Roxanne Modafferi vs. Lauren Murphy
- Shane Burgos vs. Josh Emmett
- Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad
- Cortney Casey vs. Gillian Robertson
- Tecia Torres vs. Brianna Van Buren
- Frank Camacho vs. Matt Frevola
- Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Oskar Piechota