Tag: UFC Fight Night 215

Ion Cutelaba not worried about roster spot before UFC Fight Night 215: ‘I’m not going anywhere’

Despite just one win in his past six bouts, Ion Cutelaba isn’t stressing about his job security going into UFC Fight Night 215.

LAS VEGAS – Despite just one victory in his past six octagon appearances, [autotag]Ion Cutelaba[/autotag] isn’t stressing about his job security going into UFC Fight Night 215.

Cutelaba (16-8-1 MMA, 5-7-1 UFC) returns to action Saturday when he meets Kennedy Nzechukwu (10-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) in the light heavyweight co-headliner at the UFC Apex. The card streams on ESPN+, and will represent a key moment in Cutelaba’s career.

Although his fights are consistently exciting one way or another, Cutelaba has lost back-to-back bouts and had his hand raised just once dating back to February 2020. He’s getting into the danger zone of when the UFC historically parts ways with struggling athletes, but Cutelaba said he’s not more concerned about that possibility now than he’s been ahead of any other fight.

“Our job is in jeopardy every time you get in the cage,” Cutelaba told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at UFC Fight Night 215 media day. “This could be your last fight no matter what. But honestly, yeah, two losses in a row, it might even be three losses in a row. I don’t think I’m going to leave anywhere. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay in the UFC. The fact is I’m 100 percent prepared, and I’m going to show you I’m prepared this Saturday. I’m going to do whatever it takes. I’m going to knock him the hell out. If I have to die in that octagon, I’m going to leave my entire self in that octagon, and I’m going to show what I’m made of.”

After being submitted in the first round by Johnny Walker and Ryan Spann in his two most recent bouts, Cutelaba said he’s worked hard on the flaws of his game. Grappling defense is unlikely to be a key element in the next matchup, though, as Nzechukwu is predominantly a striker.

Cutelaba said if the fight stays standing, Nzechukwu isn’t going to be able to deal with what’s coming his way.

“I never said I want a quick finish, but of course it’s great,” Cutelaba said. “It’s less work for me and a quick day in the office. But I will say one thing: He’s going to lose his mind in there. When he sees me in front of him, he doesn’t know what to prepare for. He’ll see a hurricane in there.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 215.

UFC Fight Night 215 commentary team, broadcast plans set: Laura Sanko returns as desk analyst

Laura Sanko and Anthony Smith will anchor the analyst desk for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 215 event in Las Vegas.

The UFC schedule continues this week with UFC Fight Night 215 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

As always, some marquee on-air talent will be there to help guide viewers through the experience.

Details of who will work as commentators and analysts for each event have been acquired by MMA Junkie through a person with knowledge of the situation, and you can see the scheduled broadcast team below.

Serghei Spivac unfazed by Derrick Lewis’ ‘loud’ name before UFC Fight Night 215 headliner

Serghei Spivac is not emotionally moved going into the biggest fight of his career vs. Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 215.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag] is not emotionally moved going into the biggest fight of his career at UFC Fight Night 215.

Spivac (15-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) meets Derrick Lewis (26-10 MMA, 17-8 UFC) in Saturday’s heavyweight headliner, which takes place at the UFC Apex and streams on ESPN+. It’s his first five-round fight inside the octagon, and it’s against a former two-time title challenger who holds the record for most knockouts in history. However, none of that appears to be flustering Spivac.

During Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 215 media day, Spivac was questioned about his level of excitement, potential nerves and the notoriety of his opponent. His demeanor was that of a person totally unfazed.

“It doesn’t matter to me who I fight,” Spivac told reporters, including MMA Junkie, through an interpreter. “Derrick is a very good fighter. He’s fought for the belt a few times already. He’s a strong guy and I prepared for that. It doesn’t matter for me who I’m going to fight, it’s just that now it’s Derrick Lewis.

“I’m going to say it again: It does not matter who stands in front of me. The time will show what’s going to happen. I do whatever I can to get to the victory. That’s why I’m here. I’m here to get the victory, I’m here to train for the victory and what name is in front of me or how loud that name is, is not important.”

Spivac earned himself a main event spot with five victories in his past six fights, including finishes of Augusto Sakai and Greg Hardy in his past two. His only defeat since early 2020 came against top-ranked contender Tom Aspinall, and now he gets another shot at someone who has been a constant presence at the top of the division.

There arguably couldn’t be a better time for Spivac to fight Lewis, too. “The Black Beast” has lost three of his past four fights and, at 37, could be vulnerable.

“I’m expecting a victory for myself,” Spivac said. “That’s what I trained for, that’s what I worked for. That’s why I’m here. The rest doesn’t matter.”

If Spivac completes his mission at UFC Fight Night 215, he should land a spot in the top 10 of the UFC’s official heavyweight rankings. That’s exactly where the 27-year-old wants to be going at this stage of his career, because as anyone else in his position should, he has big aspirations for the future.

“I don’t do the rankings,” Spivac said. “Whatever happens in the rankings is what happens, but obviously that’s our goal is to climb up and to be a contender. That’s what’s important. My dream is to be a champion. My goal is to be a champion. That’s what we trained for. The idea is to do whatever it takes to climb up these ranks and become a champ.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 215.

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Derrick Lewis: ‘My back is real against the wall’ going into UFC Fight Night 215 main event

Derrick Lewis thinks he’s in the hot seat going into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 215 headliner.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] thinks he’s in the hot seat going into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 215 headliner.

Lewis (26-10 MMA, 17-8 UFC) has suffered back-to-back losses going into this weekend’s heavyweight showdown with Serghei Spivac (15-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC), which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. And it’s a radical shift from where he started the year.

After bringing a run of five victories in six fights into February’s UFC 271 clash with Tai Tuivasa, Lewis was knocked out. He went on to face Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 277 in July, and was stopped in a controversial 55-second TKO. Now Lewis is facing the possibility of a three-fight losing skid for the first time, and he wants to right the ship.

“I don’t want to think about it because this year has not been my year,” Lewis told MMA Junkie and other reporters at UFC Fight Night 215 media day. “It would be good if I could keep the streak going, but this year haven’t been my year and I want to end the year off with a bang and it would be great to get a win here in Vegas.”

Lewis can’t identify exactly what went wrong against Tuivasa and Pavlovich, he said. In fact, he said he’s never taken a more professional approach to fights.

“I trained as hard as I could,” Lewis said. “This year I probably trained the most I’ve ever trained and for both fights and it didn’t go my way. I did everything the right way and it still didn’t go my way. I don’t know. I still even trained even harder for this fight, so we’ll see how things go Saturday. I believe I can get the job done, even in the later rounds. I’m looking forward to the fourth and the fifth round. I’m looking forward to main event fight this fight.”

“I hope it lasts a few seconds, but if it goes five rounds it’s fine. I’m ready, I’m excited. My coaches got me ready. I’m motivated even though there’s really not too much for me to be motivated for at this point in my career, but I am motivated. I’m ready to get in there. I feel like I’ve still got a lot left in the tank, so we’ll see how it goes Saturday.”

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Lewis’ bout at UFC Fight Night 215 will mark his 26th appearance in the heavyweight division. Only Andrei Arlovski (39) and Frank Mir (26) have fought more, and with title-fight experience, there’s not much Lewis hasn’t seen in the game to this point.

So when comes to the matchup in front of him with Pavlovich, there’s no area of concern that stands out to Lewis. In fact, he said he sees a chance to show off an undersold part of his skillset.

“Whenever I heard that it was him I said, ‘OK that’s fine,'” Lewis said. “It didn’t matter. I don’t care who they give me. I just wanted to fight anyone. It didn’t matter. Especially after my last fight, it didn’t matter who it would’ve been, how quick it would’ve been. I would’ve preferred it would’ve been quicker than this week, but I didn’t care. I think he’s a good opponent. From what I’ve been seeing on the highlights he likes to wrestle a lot, and I like that. Because I like to wrestle too. But I never really showed that in my fights. So we’ll see how it goes Saturday.”

Although Lewis claims he took no emotional trauma from the negative turn in fight results, he’s plenty aware of the position he’s in. Lewis’ status as a fan favorite likely gives him a longer rope than most in terms of staying power on the roster despite losses, but no one wants to drop three straight.

At 37, Lewis admits his time in the sport is limited, too, and if he wants to maximize his remaining window, a win over Spivac is critical.

“My back is real against the wall now,” Lewis said. “I don’t want to lose three straight fights in a row. I don’t really even want to lose one fight. So I take it hard on myself every time I lose a fight. I don’t stop thinking about my last fight until I get a new fight. I’m just tired of thinking about my last fight, it being some BS, the way it ended. I just wanted to come out this week. Give it all I’ve got. I’m almost at the end of my career now. I don’t want there to be any woulda, coulda, shouldas. I want to have everything all set and done.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 215.

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UFC Fight Night 215 pre-event facts: Andre Fialho first to five UFC fights in 2022

Check out the numbers behind UFC Fight Night 215, where Derrick Lewis can add to his knockout record and Andre Fialho keeps busy.

The UFC returns to its home base of Las Vegas on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 215, which takes place at the UFC Apex and streams on ESPN+.

A heavyweight headliner serves atop the card. The most decorated knockout artist in UFC history returns to competition as [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] (26-10 MMA, 17-8 UFC) looks to buck his losing skid against the streaking [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag] (15-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC).

For more on the numbers behind the main event, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about UFC Fight Night 215.

Video: UFC Fight Night 215 media day interviews

Before UFC Fight Night 215 on Saturday, the main card fighters are scheduled to speak to reporters at media day.

LAS VEGAS – The UFC hosts another event from its home base of Las Vegas on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 215, which takes place at the UFC Apex and streams on ESPN+.

A key heavyweight matchup serves as the main event, with Derrick Lewis (26-10 MMA, 17-8 UFC) set to take on Serghei Spivac (15-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC).

Before fight night arrives, though, notable athletes from the main card are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday at media day, and MMA Junkie will have a live stream beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT.

If you happen to miss any of the individual sessions on the live stream, check below for the archived videos of each media day.

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UFC free fight: Derrick Lewis starches Chris Daukaus, breaks record for most UFC knockouts

Watch Derrick Lewis break the record for most KO’s in UFC history.

[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag]’s last win was a special one.

The longtime heavyweight contender broke the record for the most knockouts in UFC history the last time he got his hand raised in the octagon. Back at UFC Fight Night 199 in December, Lewis (26-10 MMA, 17-8 UFC) put away Chris Daukaus less than two minutes into their headlining bout.

You can watch Lewis’ 13th UFC knockout in the video above.

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Lewis is gearing up for a return, as he takes on Serghei Spivac in the main event of UFC Fight Night 215 on Saturday in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

Lewis looks to get back into the win column after dropping his past two outings against Tai Tuivasa in February and Sergei Pavlovich in July. Lewis’ last victory was the knockout of Daukaus.

Spivac (15-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) is a winner of his two previous bouts, picking up stoppage wins over Greg Hardy in March and Augusto Sakai in August. He enters the first main event of his UFC tenure in his 10th appearance.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 215.

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UFC Fight Night 215: Make your predictions for Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 215 event in Las Vegas.

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 215 event in Las Vegas.

Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC Fight Night 215 main card staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC Fight Night 215 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

Make your picks for the fights below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 215.

Chase Sherman vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta set for UFC Fight Night 215

Chase Sherman didn’t have to wait long to get booked again after his UFC Fight Night 214 cancellation a few days ago.

[autotag]Chase Sherman[/autotag] didn’t have to wait long to get booked again after his cancellation a few days ago.

Sherman had his main card heavyweight fight against Josh Parisian scrapped this past Saturday on the day of the event when Parisian was pulled for medical issues. But he’s already been rebooked against a new opponent since Parisian’s fighting future may be up in the air.

Sherman (16-10 MMA, 4-9 UFC) will take on [autotag]Waldo Cortes-Acosta[/autotag] (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) next week at UFC Fight Night 215, which is set for the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card will stream on ESPN+. The fight first was reported by UFC broadcast partner ESPN Deportes.

Sherman snapped a four-fight skid in July when he knocked out Jared Vanderaa in the third round. He picked up a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus with the win, which was his first in more than two years.

Prior to his win over Vanderaa, Sherman’s skid had a pair of decision losses to former champion Andrei Arlovski and Parker Porter and a pair of submission losses to Jake Collier and Alexandr Romanov.

Cortes-Acosta made his official UFC debut 10 days ago and took a unanimous decision from Vanderaa at UFC Fight Night 213 to stay unbeaten. He punched his ticket to the UFC with a first-round knockout of Danilo Suzart at Dana White’s Contender Series in August. He got his shot there largely thanks to his LFA heavyweight title win in April.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night 215 lineup now includes:

  • Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac
  • Andre Fialho vs. Muslim Salikhov
  • Ion Cutelaba vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
  • Kevin Natividad vs. Ricky Turcios
  • Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Maria Oliveira
  • Kyler Phillips vs. Jack Shore
  • Cody Brundage vs. Rodolfo Vieira
  • Charles Johnson vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
  • Jennifer Maia vs. Maryna Moroz
  • Fernie Garcia vs. Brady Hiestand
  • Jose Johnson vs. Vince Morales
  • Tereza Bleda vs. Natalia Silva
  • William Knight vs. Marcin Prachnio
  • Jack Della Maddalena vs. Danny Roberts
  • Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Chase Sherman

Ion Cutelaba vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu added to UFC Fight Night 215 on Nov. 19

A light heavyweight matchup between Ion Cutelaba vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu had been added to the lineup for UFC Fight Night 215.

A light heavyweight matchup between [autotag]Ion Cutelaba[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag] had been added to the lineup for UFC Fight Night 215 in November.

MMA Junkie verified with multiple people close to the situation that Cutelaba (16-8-1 MMA, 5-7-1 UFC) and Nzechukwu (10-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) have agreed to the fight. The people requested anonymity because the organization has yet to make an official announcement.

The UFC Fight Night 215 event takes place Nov. 19 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The entire event streams on ESPN+.

Cutelaba, 28, will attempt to avoid a three-fight losing skid for the first time in his career. He’s coming off a first-round submission defeat against Johnny Walker at UFC 279 in September, and has earned just one victory in his past six fights overall dating back to February 2020.

Nzechukwu, 30, meanwhile, comes in with some momentum after winning four of his past six fights. The Fortis MMA product is coming off a third-round TKO of Karl Roberson at UFC on ESPN 39 in July, and has earned all but one of his octagon victories by knockout.

The latest UFC Fight Night 215 lineup now includes:

  • Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac
  • Tereza Bleda vs. Natalia Silva
  • Kevin Natividad vs. Ricky Turcios
  • Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Maria Oliveira
  • Andre Fialho vs. Muslim Salikhov
  • Kyler Phillips vs. Jack Shore
  • Cody Brundage vs. Rodolfo Vieira
  • Charles Johnson vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
  • Jennifer Maia vs. Maryna Moroz
  • Fernie Garcia vs. Brady Hiestand
  • Jose Johnson vs. Vince Morales
  • William Knight vs. Marcin Prachnio
  • Jack Della Maddalena vs. Danny Roberts
  • Ion Cutelaba vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu

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