UFC is finalizing a heavyweight fight between Curtis Blaydes and Jairzinho Rozenstruik for UFC 266 in September, sources confirmed to ESPN.
The UFC 266 pay-per-view event is expected to take place on Sept. 25, although the promotion has not officially announced a date or location. MMAFighting.com first reported the matchup.
Blaydes (14-3) is looking to rebound from a second-round knockout loss to Derrick Lewis at a UFC Fight Night event in February. Before the loss, the Denver-based heavyweight had won four in a row and was knocking on the door of a title shot. Blaydes is 9-3 in the UFC, but all three of his losses have come via knockout — one to Lewis and two to current champion Francis Ngannou.
Rozenstruik (12-2) is coming off an important win against Augusto Sakai in the main event of a UFC Fight Night earlier this month in Las Vegas. The fighter from Suriname was 1-2 in his past three going into that bout, with bad losses to Ngannou and Ciryl Gane. He rebounded, however, with a highlight-reel KO of Sakai in the opening round.
UFC 266 will also include a light heavyweight title fight between champion Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira.