It’s no April Fools’ joke, Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter William
Knight is officially moving to heavyweight.
Late Thursday night,
MMA Junkie reported that Knight (11-3) would be stepping up to
the heavyweight division on April 16. At
UFC on ESPN 34, he will be taking on fellow former light
heavyweight Devin Clark
(12-6) inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. News of this
short-notice booking has since been confirmed by other outlets as
well as Knight himself on
Instagram.
Knight last competed in February, where he dropped a decision to
Maxim
Grishin after missing weight by 12 pounds to make the matchup a
de facto heavyweight contest. His weight miss clocked in as the
largest among all bouts that have taken place inside the
Octagon. The defeat to Grishin ended a two-fight win streak
with a knockout of Fabio
Cherant and a decision over Alonzo
Menifield. Win or lose, every career bout for “Knightmare” has
ended by knockout or decision, without a submission on his
ledger.
While Knight holds 82% of his victories by knockout, his opponent
Clark only possesses a finish rate of 33%. The former middleweight
will also be taking his first trip up to the 266-pound capped
category, and he will be looking to put an end to a two-bout skid.
In late 2020, Anthony
Smith tapped him out with a triangle choke, and he succumbed to
a decision setback about 10 months later to Ion
Cutelaba. “Brown Bears” celebrates victories over names
including the aforementioned Menifield, Mike
Rodriguez and Darko
Stosic throughout a career that began in 2013, almost five
years before Knight first turned pro.
The jam-packed UFC on ESPN 34 fight card on April 16 will be staged
inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and a high-stakes welterweight
rematch draws top billing. Vicente
Luque and Belal
Muhammad will run it back after first meeting in 2016, with
Luque claiming the win by knockout in 79 seconds. The co-headliner
comes in the form of a middleweight stylistic clash when Uriah Hall
takes on Andre
Muniz.