Derek 'The Black Beast' Lewis will welcome Rodrigo Nascimento the the main event slot, as they meet at a UFC fight night on May 11.
The 11 bout card is set to play host to many an interesting contest, with Alonzo Menifield taking on Carlos Ulberg, Jared Gooden squaring off against Kevin Kousset and Michael Johnson fighting Matt Frevola.
The main event will see the number 12 ranked Lewis look to keep himself in the rankings as 15 ranked Nascimento wants to take a step closer to the top 10.
As of late, Lewis has struggled to return to the form he had between 2019-2021. After dropping a loss to Cyril Gane and bouncing back to winning ways against Chris Daukuas, 'The Black Beast' currently finds himself 1-4 in his last 5.
After beating Blagoy Ivanov, Illir Latifi, Aleksei Oleinik and Curtis Blaydes, Lewis found himself in an interim UFC Heavyweight championship bout against Ciryl Gane. With less than a minute left in the third round, Lewis was finished by way of ground and pound, losing out in his second shot at the UFC Heavyweight title.
Having signed with the promotion on the back of a first round triangle choke against Michal Martinek on the 2019 season of Dana White's Contender Series, the Brazilian has looked like a formidable force at Heavyweight.
Nascimento enters the contest on the back of a four fight unbeaten run, having faced Alan Baudot, Tanner Boser, Illir Latifi and Don'Tale Mayes since his loss against Chris Daukaus in 2020.
If 'Ze Colmeia' can get the win over Lewis, it not only marks undoubtedly his biggest win to date but will also see him move substantially up the rankings, in a division which is bottle necked at the top.
For Lewis, a win will mark a step towards trying to rebuild his run towards a belt. If the fan favourite can get his hand raised in the main event, the 39-year-old can have another push towards the title.
