[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXMvUv3rwaA?start=6&w=560&h=315]
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. Two top-10 Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweights
looking to separate themselves from the pack will come to blows in
May.
Combate first reported the story that Shamil
Abdurakhimov (20-5) will take on Augusto
Sakai (15-2-1) at the
UFC Fight Night event on May 1. This event is expected to take
place in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas but its location has not been
formalized.
Abdurakhimov will be competing for the first time since September
2019, with a pair of scrapped 2020 matchups against Ciryl Gane
nixed for various reasons. The Dagestan native’s last appearance
came against Curtis
Blaydes, and he was pounded out by ferocious ground-and-pound
to snap a three-fight win streak. Prior to getting clobbered by
Blaydes, Abdurakhimov rattled off a trio of wins once per year over
Chase
Sherman, Andrei
Arlovski and Marcin
Tybura, where he knocked out both Tybura and Sherman.
Sakai will be looking to get back in the win column after a
fifth-round finish setback against Alistair
Overeem last September. By losing to “The Demolition Man,” the
Brazilian ended a six-fight win streak strangely similar to that of
his opponent. In rapid succession, Sakai knocked out Sherman, won a
disputed decision over Arlovski and knocked out Tybura.
Following that win, he took a split verdict against Blagoy
Ivanov in 2020, and encountered Overeem a few months later. The
Brazilian brawler posts a career knockout rate of 73 percent, and
he has never won nor lost a bout by submission.
The UFC Fight Night card on May 1 should take place in Las Vegas at
the UFC Apex, with a light heavyweight battle expected to serve as
the marquee between Dominick
Reyes and Jiri
Prochazka. Other bouts likely set for the main card include
Cub
Swanson vs. Gavin
Tucker at featherweight, and Ion
Cutelaba vs. Devin Clark
in the light heavyweight division.
