To listen to Derrick Lewis and also Curtis Blaydes speak about their heavyweight centerpiece at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas is to listen to competitors preparing for the fight to play out in significantly various means. Styles make battles and also each male expects their extremely various design to control the activity and also prepared for an essential win in a department where a couple of excellent success can quickly land you in a champion fight.
For the hefty- striking Lewis, transforming the fight right into a quarrel where his effective strikes can put on down and also quit Blaydes is the objective. To do that, Lewis wishes to blend it up in a bloody fight.
“This fight right here is going to be very violent and very bloody,” Lewis claimed in a UFC video clip. “I feel I could break Curtis by the third round and that’s what’s going to happen. This is going to be a very intense battle, we both want the title shot right after this and I believe I could get the job done.”
There’s an all-natural interest that kind of strategy to eliminating that attracts followers. A large individuality and also large boxing power have actually made Lewis a follower fave.
Winning over followers isn’t a big issue to Blaydes, that is the reverse of Lewis in numerous means. Blaydes’ battling assault is tough to quit, introducing him to a 14- 2 occupation document, also when attracting objection.
After Blaydes utilized his battling to travel to a simple– if unsightly– choice sway Alexander Volkov in his newest getaway, UFC head of state Dana White signed up with the carolers of Blaydes’ movie critics, claiming, “When you talk s— like he talked this week, you better come in and whoop somebody’s ass when you talk s— like that. When you talk the s— that he talked and perform like you performed tonight, you look stupid.”
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That objection has actually not modified Blaydes’ strategy to the fight with Lewis.
“If I win the exact same way, I would be fine,” Blaydes informed ESPN. “Guess what? it’s another win, it’s a win bonus. I don’t know if a lot of people care, but I have a family. I’m trying to feed my family. I don’t care if you want me to risk my win bonus, which is $100,000, to stand and bang with a guy who has terrible wrestling. I’m just not going to do it. Unless you defend every takedown attempt, I’m not going to stop trying to wrestle you. You have to deter me, and I don’t think Derrick is going to deter me.”
Here’s the fight card for UFC Fight Night with the most recent probabilities from William Hill Sportsbook.
UFC Fight Night card, probabilities
|
Curtis Blaydes -380 |
Derrick Lewis +300 |
Heavyweights |
|
Ketlen Vieira -270 |
Yana Kunitskaya +220 |
Women’s bantamweights |
|
Charles Rosa -190 |
Darrick Minner +160 |
Featherweights |
| Chris Daukaus -200 |
Aleksei Oleinik +170 |
Heavyweights |
| Phil Hawes -125 |
Nassourdine Imavov +105 |
Middleweights |
| Tom Aspinall -260 |
Andrei Arlovski +210 | Heavyweights |
UFC Fight Night watching info
Date:Feb 20 |Start time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: UFC PINNACLE– Las Vegas, Nevada
Stream: ESPN+
Prediction
Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis: Blaydes isn’t incorrect that Lewis’ fumbling is a number of degrees listed below his very own. Both guys have issues over their cardio if the fight gets involved in the later rounds, specifically with this being a 5- rounded event. Lewis has actually handled to take out last- minute kos prior to, yet that’s tougher to do in the 5th round than the 3rd, and also Blaydes’ grinding design is a real bear to handle. Blaydes has actually experienced kos in his 2 occupation losses– both to Francis Ngannou– and also he can be captured cool, so there’s a great deal of threat going both means. Still, Blaydes’ capability to battle, battle, and also battle some even more might just be excessive to permit Lewis to genuinely obtain his power- striking assault going. Pick: Curtis Blaydes by means of UD