On Saturday, the UFC will roll on. President Dana White has been facing the issues related to the coronavirus and keeps fights going.
They were one of the first sporting events to return after the scares from COVID-19. Fighters continue to compete in front of only essential employees.
UFC heavyweight contenders Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov will headline the night. They both made weight on Friday and will be looking for a win in the UFC’s Apex Facility in Las Vegas.
Blaydes is 13-2 and weighed in at 261 pounds. On the other hand, Volkov is 31-7 and weighs 247 pounds. This fight was initially supposed to take place in Canada but was moved to Las Vegas because of the pandemic.
“FYI, if y’all were hoping to see a 25-minute stand-up war, you probably shouldn’t tune in to the main event,” Blaydes wrote on social media. “I fully intend on ragdolling my opponent just figured I’d let y’all know ahead of time.”
Blaydes has won eight of his 10 appearances in the UFC. He is confident coming in and will be the heavy betting favorite. His only two losses come from heavyweight opponent Francis Ngannou.
His wins include finishes over Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, and Mark Hunt. This fight might not be the ideal shot for Blaydes, but he has to win to get what he wants.
That big fight just might be Jon Jones, who has discussed moving up to heavyweight to fight Blaydes. He will have to get through Volkov on Saturday to get another big fight against Jones of Ngannou.
Blaydes Favored By Many
Brett Okamoto of ESPN gave his prediction.
“All Blaydes. That’s the popular opinion, and I’d love to go against the grain, but I just don’t see it. Especially in a small Octagon, with less room for Volkov to hide from Blaydes’ forward pressure and relentless takedown ability. This is about as bad of a matchup for Volkov as you can draw up on paper.”
Here is the full fight card for UFC Fight Night on Saturday.
ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Alexander Volkov | Heavyweight
- Josh Emmett vs. Shane Burgos | Men’s featherweight
- Raquel Pennington vs. Marion Reneau | Women’s bantamweight
- Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad | Welterweight
- Jim Miller vs. Roosevelt Roberts | Catchweight (160 pounds)
ESPN/ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET
- Clay Guida vs. Bobby Green | Lightweight
- Tecia Torres vs. Brianna Van Buren | Strawweight
- Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Oskar Piechota | Middleweight
- Cortney Casey vs. Gillian Robertson | Women’s flyweight
- Frank Camacho vs. Justin Jaynes | Lightweight
- Roxanne Modafferi vs. Lauren Murphy | Women’s flyweight
- Austin Hubbard vs. Max Rohskopf | Lightweight
Another Good Bout
The co-main event may also be an exciting fight to watch. Emmet and Burgos are both winners who have dealt their fair share of knockouts.
Burgos is 13-1 and has won his past three fights. But Burgos has the highest significant striking rate in the division.
After the Belmont Stakes, fans can then tune into mixed martial arts to finish a Saturday of sports betting.