Per ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Derrick Lewis will face off against Aleksei Oleinik at UFC Fight Night on August 8th. The bout announcement came first via the Tass agency. The heavyweight clash will serve as the main headliner for the card. The announcement comes along with two other marquee fights set to take place at Middleweight in early August.
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‘The Black Beast’ is looking to extend his two-fight run and possibly build himself back to a title shot. Lewis spoke to Ariel Helwani back in February of 2020 and spoke out on a serious medical condition. He went on to explain that it was indeed serious in nature, however, no detailed information was provided.
Derrick Lewis: “I need to get it checked out”.
“I need to go get something checked out that came up in my medicals that’s been hindering my training. We’re supposed to be keeping it on the down-low but I need to get it checked out. Just something going on that needs to be addressed”.
“It’s a life or death situation. It’s something that happens to a lot of athletes and it doesn’t matter if you’re healthy or not”.
The extent of these maladies is unknown and it remains to be seen whether it will impact Lewis going forward.
His opponent, number 11 ranked Aleksei Oleinik most recently spoiled the return of Fabricio Werdum in May. The bout is rumored to take place at the UFC Apex Facility however location details for bouts after July 11 are scarce.
Questions surround Olenik’s approach to the fight as he got into a striking match with Alastair Overeem when they fought. Not to mention Derrick Lewis is known to be one of the biggest punchers in the division. Will Oleinik stick to his strength coming in as the superior grappler?
The heavyweight division will finally be cleared at the top as Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier fight for the strap. Chiefly the winner of this fight will move up as the front-runner in the division.
