A heavyweight clash between Eastern European standouts has been booked for the UFC’s March 11, 2023 Fight Night card.
Former Bellator MMA heavyweight champ Alexander Volkov (35-10) of Russia will take on Moldova’s Alexander (Alexandr) Romanov (16-1) at the event, which will take place at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Eurosport was first to report news of the match-up on Tuesday. Romanov confirmed the pairing on his Instagram Story.
Volkov has been trading wins and losses of late, most recently stopping Jairzinho Rozenstruik with a TKO finish in June. Prior to that, the Russian known as “Drago” had been submitted by England’s Tom Aspinall as part of the UFC London main event last March.
Having joined the UFC in 2016, Volkov holds notable wins over TUF winner Roy “Big Country” Nelson, former UFC champ Fabricio Werdum, and former Strikeforce champ Alistair Overeem.
“King Kong” Romanov entered the UFC in 2020 as a highly touted heavyweight prospect, winning his first five fights. The first setback of his MMA career came in his last outing, which saw him lose a split decision against Marcin Tybura.
The UFC’s March 11, 2023 Fight Night show will be headlined by former bantamweight champ Petr Yan taking on Merab Dvalishvili. The following fights have been reported for the event:
- Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Tyson Nam vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva
- Abu Azaitar vs. Sedriques Dumas
- Łukasz Brzeski vs. Karl Williams
- Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti
- JJ Aldrich vs. Ariane Lipski
- Raphael Assunção vs. Kyler Phillips
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Jonathan Martinez
- Alexandr Romanov vs. Alexander Volkov
