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Two titans of the heavyweight division are set to lock horns, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship puts down roots in yet another domestic market. Former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos will collide with Derrick Lewis in the UFC Fight Night 146 headliner on Saturday at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas, the knockout artists seeking to reclaim their place as top contenders in an increasingly volatile weight class. Meanwhile, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos squares off with Curtis Millender in the three-round welterweight co-main event.
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Dos Santos, 35, finds himself on a modest two-fight winning streak. He last competed on Dec. 1, when he struck down Tai Tuivasa with second-round punches in the UFC Fight Night 142 main event. Dos Santos has delivered 14 of his 20 professional victories by knockout or technical knockout, with Cain Velasquez, Mark Hunt, Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, and Mirko Filipovic among the victims. The American Top Team export held the UFC heavyweight crown for more than a year, from Nov. 12, 2011, to Dec. 29, 2012.
Lewis has not fought since his failed bid to dethrone current heavyweight titleholder Daniel Cormier at UFC 230, where his second-round submission defeat closed the book on a three-fight winning streak on Nov. 3. The 34-year-old has compiled a 12-4 record since he joined the UFC roster in 2014, his tenure marked by wins over Roy Nelson, Travis Browne, Francis Ngannou, and Alexander Volkov. Lewis has seven first-round finishes to his credit, accounting for one-third of his career total.
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UFC Fight Night “Dos Santos vs. Lewis” — which will stream to ESPN Plus in its entirety at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT — also features a welterweight tilt pairing Tim Means with Niko Price, a heavyweight battle pitting Blagoy Ivanov with Ben Rothwell, a lightweight clash matching Beneil Dariush with Drew Dober and a middleweight battle slotting Tim Boetsch opposite Omari Akhemdov. A welterweight confrontation between Anthony Rocco Martin and Sergio Moraes anchors the seven-fight undercard.
