LAS VEGAS — From the beginning of 2018 until today — a span that encompasses 30 months — the UFC has promoted exactly four heavyweight title fights. In other words, not even two per year.
That kind of inactivity at the top of a weight class produced a logjam — a bottleneck of contenders impatiently waiting for an opportunity to vie for a UFC title. And perhaps no heavyweight has been more impacted by this than Curtis Blaydes, who ESPN ranks No. 4 in the division.
Blaydes (13-2) will seek his ninth win in 11 UFC appearances Saturday night, when he takes on Alexander Volkov (31-7) in the main event of UFC Fight Night. Should Blaydes win, which he is heavily favored to do, he still might be waiting for a title shot. Current champion Stipe Miocic is scheduled to face Daniel Cormier on August 15, and another contender in Francis Ngannou will probably be next. Blaydes’ best shot, should he win Saturday, might be for Miocic and Cormier both to retire after they complete their trilogy. Cormier said he will, and there’s speculation Miocic may also call it quits. If that happens, Blaydes may get a shot for the vacant title against Ngannou, who already owns two wins over Blaydes.
That’s a tough backdrop for a fight, but it doesn’t appear to have done anything to Blaydes’ confidence. He shared on social media this week he intends to ‘ragdoll’ Volkov inside the UFC’s Apex facility. Blaydes can’t control the logjam in his division, but at least he feels he can control Saturday’s fight.
The co-main event may turn out to steal the show as Josh Emmett and Shane Burgos are expected to provide non-stop action.
Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim recap all the action, as it happens.
Fight in progress:
Women’s flyweight: Cortney Casey (9-7, 5-6 UFC, -105) vs. Gillian Robertson (7-4, 4-2 UFC, -115)
Results:
Lightweight: Justin Jaynes (16-4, 1-0 UFC) defeats Frank Camacho (22-9, 2-5 UFC) by first-round TKO
Recap to come.
Women’s flyweight: Lauren Murphy (13-4, 5-4 UFC) defeats Roxanne Modafferi (24-18, 3-6 UFC) by unanimous decision
Murphy extended her win streak to three with a clear-cut unanimous decision over the former title challenger.
According to UFC Stats, Murphy outstruck Modafferi 108 to 102 and wobbled her with a short right hand in the second round. Modafferi continued to press forward throughout the fight, but found herself repeatedly walking into Murphy’s counter right hand. She forced her way into the clinch multiple times, but Murphy did well defending those positions and disengaging.
Murphy, who fights out of Texas, has been on a roll over the last year. The 36-year-old was coming off upset wins in her last two fights against Mara Romero Borella and Andrea Lee. Her four total wins in the UFC’s flyweight division ranks second all-time, behind current champion Valentina Shevchenko and Katlyn Chookagian.
Modafferi continues her trend of alternating wins and losses, which dates all the way back to 2017.
— Okamoto
Lightweight: Austin Hubbard (12-4, 2-2 UFC) defeats Max Rohskopf (5-1, 0-1 UFC) by second-round TKO
Hubbard withstood an early storm from Rohskopf, but in the end that was all Rohskopf had in him in his UFC debut. Hubbard put a beating on him in a one-sided Round 2, and Rohskopf quit on his stool at the end of the round.
This is a tough sport and there is no shame in being done when you can’t go any further. I personally would be in regret for the rest of my life but hey I don’t have to fight Austin
— Randa Markos (@randamma) June 20, 2020
Rohskopf came in riding a hype train. Though he had only five pro fights, he had won them all by submission. And early on, he showed off the pedigree from his training with grappler extraordinaire Robert Drysdale at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, putting Hubbard in trouble on the mat twice in the opening round and threatening submissions. But Hubbard escaped both times, and he made Rohskopf pay with solid punch and kick combinations. By round’s end, Hubbard’s confidence was soaring and Rohskopf’s was flagging.
Round 2 began with hope for Rohskopf, who took this fight on 10 days notice. He got the fight to the canvas again within the first five seconds. But Hubbard quickly got back to standing, and it was one-way traffic from then on. Hubbard, who trains at Team Elevation in Denver, put it on Rohskopf — leg kicks, body punches, jabs, straight right hands. By the time the horn sounded, Rohskopf was bloody and sagging. And then he told his cornermen he was done.
According to UFC Stats, Hubbard led Rohskopf 45-6 in significant strikes in the second round.
— Wagenheim
Still to come:
Heavyweight: Curtis Blaydes (13-2 1 NC, 9-2 1 NC, UFC, -400) vs. Alexander Volkov (31-7, 5-1 UFC, +320)
Men’s featherweight: Josh Emmett (15-2, 6-2 UFC, +120) vs. Shane Burgos (13-1, 6-1 UFC, -140)
Women’s bantamweight: Raquel Pennington (10-9, 7-5 UFC, -180)vs. Marion Reneau (9-5-1, 5-4-1 UFC, +160)
Welterweight: Lyman Good (21-5, 3-2 UFC, +100) vs. Belal Muhammad (16-3, 7-3 UFC, -120)
Catchweight (160 pounds): Jim Miller (31-14 1 NC, 20-13 1 NC, +200) vs. Roosevelt Roberts (10-1, 4-1 UFC, -240)
Lightweight: Clay Guida (35-16, 15-13 UFC, +200)vs. Bobby Green (24-10-1, 5-5-1 UFC, -240)
Strawweight: Tecia Torres (10-5, 6-5 UFC, +180) vs. Brianna Van Buren (9-2, 1-0 UFC, -210)
Middleweight: Marc-Andre Barriault (11-4, 0-3 UFC, -110) vs. Oskar Piechota (11-3-1, 2-3 UFC, -110)