The co-main event of UFC 271 may not have a championship belt attached to it, but the combination of the two protagonists involved virtually guarantees an explosive encounter.
Heavyweight knockout artists and fellow crowd-pleasers Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa know a thing or two about putting their opponents to sleep, while keeping the crowd on their feet.
Former title challenger Lewis is making his return to his home town after his last appearance in Houston saw him fall short in his bid to capture the UFC heavyweight title. He admitted he didn’t perform that night, but you can bet he’ll have additional motivation to deliver the goods for his hometown fans this time around.
However, he’ll have to do so against a fellow slugger with a penchant for wild finishes. After a three-fight skid that threatened his UFC future, Tuivasa has exploded into form and heads into next weekend’s co-main event riding a four-fight win streak, with all four of those wins coming via knockout.
Tuivasa seems to have turned a corner in his UFC career and looked outstanding in his most recent win against Augusto Sakai. Now he has the chance to gatecrash the championship picture with victory over the knockout king of the UFC heavyweight division.
It promises to be a dynamite matchup, and ahead of the bout you can check out how the two men prepared for their clash in the UFC’s pre-fight film, UFC 271 Countdown, which tells the pre-fight story of the bout, with opinions from both fighters and their teams.