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UFC Fight Night preview: Blaydes looks to enter heavyweight title picture

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Need-to-know info

Date: Saturday, June 20

Time: Prelims - 6:00 p.m. ET
Main Card - 9:00 p.m. ET

Venue: UFC Apex, Las Vegas

TV: Prelims - ESPN (U.S.), TSN (Canada)
Main Card - ESPN (U.S.), TSN (Canada)

Blaydes vs. Volkov - Heavyweight main event

Curtis Blaydes looks to extend his winning streak to four when he battles Alexander Volkov on Saturday.

Blaydes (13-2) is coming off a second-round TKO of former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos at UFC Raleigh in January. He pushed his UFC record to 8-2 with one no-contest.

The 29-year-old is ranked No. 3 in the heavyweight division behind Francis N'Gannou - who has finished Blaydes twice - and former champion Daniel Cormier.

Jeff Bottari / UFC / Getty

Volkov (31-7) rebounded from his first UFC loss by defeating Greg Hardy via unanimous decision at UFC Moscow in November. "Drago" is 5-1 in the promotion, with his lone setback coming against Derrick Lewis at UFC 229 when he was knocked out with just seconds remaining in the fight.

The 6-foot-7 former Bellator heavyweight champion is the tallest opponent Blaydes has fought in his career.

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Emmett vs. Burgos - Featherweight co-main event

Josh Emmett looks to inch closer to title contention as he battles Shane Burgos in a 145-pound matchup.

Emmett (15-2) hasn't fought since knocking out Mirsad Bektic in the first round at UFC Sacramento in July 2019. The 35-year-old has finished three of his last four opponents, with his fights going to the judges' scorecards only once since he dropped down to featherweight in 2017.

The Team Alpha Male product will look to make it three straight wins for the first time since December 2016.

Jeff Bottari / UFC / Getty

Burgos (13-1) is coming off a TKO victory over Makwan Amirkhani at UFC 244 in November and will be competing on the first fight of his new contract. The 29-year-old has gone 6-1 in the Octagon, with his lone loss coming against Calvin Kattar at UFC 220 in January 2018.

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Pennington vs. Reneau - Women's bantamweight fight

Former title challenger Raquel Pennington looks to avoid back-to-back losses when she faces Marion Reneau on the main card.

"Rocky" is coming off a unanimous-decision setback to Holly Holm at UFC 246 in January and has lost three of her last four fights. The 31-year-old has gone the distance in six of her last seven.

Jeff Bottari / UFC / Getty

Reneau (9-5-1) will look to avoid three straight losses of her own for the first time in her career. The 43-year-old school teacher is coming off back-to-back defeats to Cat Zingano and Yana Kunitskaya. She'll be competing for the first time since March 2019.

Jeff Bottari / UFC / Getty

Main card

  • Curtis Blaydes vs. Alexander Volkov - Heavyweight
  • Josh Emmett vs. Shane Burgos - Featherweight
  • Raquel Pennington vs. Marion Reneau - Bantamweight
  • Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad - Welterweight
  • Roosevelt Roberts vs. Jim Miller - Lightweight

Prelims

  • Clay Guida vs. Bobby Green - Lightweight
  • Tecia Torres vs. Brianna Van Buren - Strawweight
  • Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Oskar Piechota - Middleweight
  • Cortney Casey vs. Gillian Robertson - Flyweight
  • Frank Camacho vs. Justin Jaynes - Lightweight
  • Roxanne Modafferi vs. Lauren Murphy - Flyweight
  • Austin Hubbard vs. Max Rohskopf - Lightweight

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