A heavyweight clash pitting Derrick Lewis against Sergei Pavlovich is in the works for an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on July 30.
ESPN was first to report the booking. The event, which is expected to be UFC 277, does not yet have a location or venue. The card is also expected to include a middleweight showdown between Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira.
Lewis last appeared at UFC 271, where he suffered a second-round knockout loss to Tai Tuivasa on Feb. 12 in Houston. “The Black Beast” is the UFC’s all-time knockout leader and a two-time heavyweight title challenger, coming up short against Daniel Cormier for the undisputed belt at UFC 230 and losing to Ciryl Gane for the interim strap at UFC 265. Lewis owns wins against the likes of Curtis Blaydes, Alexey Oleynik, Alexander Volkov, Francis Ngannou, Marcin Tybura, Travis Browne and Roy Nelson, to name a few.
Pavlovich has won three straight in the Octagon after falling to Alistair Overeem in his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 141. Since then, the 29-year-old Russian has authored successive first-round KO/TKO victories against Marcelo Golm, Maurice Greene and Shamil Abdurakhimov. Pavlovich has won 15 of his 16 professional appearances, 12 via KO or TKO.
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