Next month’s UFC Sao Paulo main event has a new look.
With Curtis Blaydes withdrawing for undisclosed reasons, the hard-hitting “Black Beast” known as Derrick Lewis is stepping up on short notice to take his place against Brazil’s own Jailton Almeida.
The card is set to take place on November 4, 2023 at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ag.Fight was first to report news of Lewis stepping into the bout.
Lewis recently stormed back into the win column with a flying knee (followed up by some heavy punches) that caught another Brazilian, Marcos Rogerio de Lima, completely off-guard at UFC 291. That snapped a three-fight skid for Lewis, and the surging Almeida, a perfect 5-0 in the UFC, will look to avoid a similar fate.
Derrick Lewis is currently ranked #10 in the heavyweight division, while Almeida is one spot ahead of him at #9.
UFC Sao Paulo currently consists of the following reported match-ups:
- Jailton Almeida vs. Derrick Lewis
- Gabriel Bonfim vs. Nicolas Dalby
- Rodrigo Nascimento vs. Don’Tale Mayes
- Rodolfo Vieira vs. Armen Petrosyan
- Ismael Bonfim vs. Vinc Pichel
- Elves Brener vs. Esteban Ribovics
- Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov
- Vitor Petrino vs. Modestas Bukauskas
- Angela Hill vs. Denise Gomes
- Lucas Alexander vs. David Onama
- Daniel Santos vs. Daniel Marcos
- Eduarda Moura vs. Montserrat Ruiz
- Kauê Fernandes vs. Marc Diakiese
- Caio Borralho vs. Abus Magomedov
