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UFC 271, the second pay-per-view of the 2022 promotion, is less than a week away, and the excitement is starting to build. The man he knocked out to win the ballot back in 2019 will be at the top of the middleweight title match again between Robert Whittaker.
In the co-host event, Whittaker's partner Aussie Tai Tuivasa will take the toughest test of his career as he steps into the octagon with Houston heavyweight Derrick Lewis.
Lewis (26-8, 1 NC) will be back in action less than two months after his last victory when he will face fellow heavyweight contender Tai Toivasa (13-3) in UFC 271. This news first came from MMA Janki. Friday, announcing that two giants would fall inside the Toyota Center in Houston on February 12. Immediately after the announcement, other outlets confirmed the booking.
"The Black Beast" returned in December after a failed first-round attempt to secure a temporary lease against Cyril Gain by firing on Chris Docks in the first round. The knockout for Houston topped the list of most knockouts in UFC history, breaking the tie between Waiter Belfort and Matt Brown. Over the years, Lewis has beaten people like Francis Ngano, Alexander Volkov, Curtis Blades, and Roy Nelson. He will come up with an 85% finish rate for these three rounds.
Australia's Tuivasa has been fairly stable since joining the promotion in 2017, shaking all three wins before falling short three times in a row. Since 2020, Tuivasa has won all four of its matches by knockout within 5:26. His current race has seen him ruined by Augusto Sakai, Greg Hardy and Stephen Straw to move up the rankings. "Bam Bam" voluntarily surpassed Lewis' career completion rate of 92%, and unlike Lewis, he never won by accumulation. While Tiwasa has less than half (six) of Lewis' knockout records in Octagon, the 28-year-old has the time and the skills to potentially reach that significant number in the years to come.
The UFC 271 will land at the Toyota Center in Houston on February 12, where fans will be able to watch the headliner in Robert Whitaker's rematch of Middleweight Gold vs. Israel Adesania.
The full details of the UFC 271 card are as follows
UFC 271 Main Card (pay-per-view)
Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker
Derrick Lewis vs. Tai Tuivasa
Jared Cannonier vs. Derek Brunson
Kyler Phillips vs. Marcelo Rojo
Bobby Green vs. Nasrat Haqparast
UFC 271 Prelims
Andrei Arlovski vs. Jared Vanderaa
Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell
Casey O’Neill vs. Roxanne Modafferi
Carlos Ulberg vs. Fabio Cherant
Ed Herman vs. Maxim Grishin
UFC 271 Early Prelims
Mana Martinez vs. Ronnie Lawrence
Alexander Hernandez vs. Renato Moicano
AJ Dobson vs. Jacob Malkoun
Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Sergey Morozov
Jeremiah Wells vs. Mike Diamond
