UFC Targeting Curtis Blaydes vs. Alexander Volkov for UFC Saskatoon Headliner

Confirmed via sources the plan is for Curtis Blaydes (@RazorBlaydes265) and Alexander Volkov (@AlexDragoVolkov) to headline UFC Fight Night Saskatoon in June. Obviously, Blaydes feels he's ready for a title shot but the division remains in flux and he wanted to stay active.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 5, 2020

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be putting a major heavyweight collision as the main event of its return trip to Saskatoon, Canada, in June.

ESPN announced on Thursday that the promotion is targeting a significant heavyweight matchup between Curtis Blaydes (13-2, 1 NC) and Alexander Volkov (31-7) as the headliner of UFC Saskatoon. The news was first reported by sports.ru on Wednesday. The two will serve as the main attraction of UFC Saskatoon, which will go down on June 10 in the most populated city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Blaydes has rebounded from a knockout loss to Francis Ngannou in November 2018 with three consecutive victories over Justin Willis, Shamil Abdurakhimov and Junior dos Santos. Most recently, he knocked out dos Santos not by his wrestling and ground-and-pound, but using his stand-up. The only two defeats on the ledger of “Razor” have come by Ngannou, and Blaydes has finished his opponent in 10 of his 13 career victories.

Volkov bounced back from a shocking knockout to Derrick Lewis in 2019 with a one-sided decision over Greg Hardy in November. The former Bellator MMA heavyweight champ has gone at least 14:49 in each of his six UFC appearances, while still maintaining a stoppage rate of about 74 percent. With his time in the cage, he averages 15 minutes per fight in the Octagon, which is tied for the highest in UFC heavyweight history along with Heath Herring.

UFC Saskatoon will likely take place at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, Canada. The event on June 10 does not have any other bouts currently assigned to the card.