Curtis Blaydes said he wanted ‘a title eliminator fight’ next, and the UFC gave him one against Sergei Pavlovich.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN reports that the promotion has tapped the pair of top-five heavyweights to serve as the headliner of an upcoming UFC event scheduled for April 22 at a soon-to-be-announced location and venue. Blaydes has since confirmed the report on social media.
Following a second-round KO loss to Derrick Lewis at UFC Vegas 19, Blaydes rebounded with three consecutive wins. ‘Razor’ earned a unanimous decision over Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 266, followed by TKOs of Chris Daukaus and Tom Aspinall at UFC Columbus and UFC London, respectively.