Walt Harris vs Alexander Volkov scheduled for UFC 254
A big heavyweight fight between contenders is scheduled to take place later this Fall. As first reported by Russian outlet Sports.ru, Alexander Volkov will take on Walt Harris at UFC 254 which is scheduled to take place on October 24, the card is also expected to be headlined by a lightweight title fight between champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and interim champion Justin Gaethje.
Harris will be looking to rebound from his last fight when he was defeated by Alistair Overeem back in May earlier this year. Harris returned to face Overeem following the tragic passing of his stepdaughter, Aniah Blanchard. Before his last loss, Harris had consecutive wins over Sergey Spivak and Aleksei Oleinik, while even showing some moments in the back-and-forth fight against Overeem. In an effort to bring change to the community, Harris also recently told MMA Junkie that he is planning to run for city council.
Volkov will be looking to bounce back from his last fight as well, when he dropped a decision loss to contender Curtis Blaydes. The former M-1 and Bellator heavyweight champion started his UFC tenure 4-0, including a Performance of the Night bonus against Fabricio Werdum and a Fight of the Night bonus against Stefan Struve. Since his hot start Volkov has dropped two of his last three fights, with his lone victory coming against Greg Hardy last November.
With heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic scheduled to defend his title against Daniel Cormier at UFC 252, business is picking up in the division, with several contenders waiting to see what happens in the trilogy title fight. Outside of top contenders Blaydes and Francis Ngannou, most of the top-ranked heavyweights are being scheduled for matchups, meaning there is some importance to this fight between Volkov and Harris, who are both respectively looking to stake their claim in the division.
UFC 254 does not have a venue announced as of yet but with the COVID-19 pandemic, the only two locations the UFC has staged events since returning is Jacksonville, Florida, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
