UFC St. Louis Preview

The UFC will be heading back to the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO for just the second time in history on Saturday, March 11. The main event will be in the heavyweight division between fan-favorite #12 Derrick Lewis and surging prospect #15 Rodrigo Nascimento.

Since challenging for the heavyweight title in 2018, Lewis has gone 6-6 and most recently lost to Jailton Almeida by unanimous decision in November. The 39-year-old has learned to rebound from losses by completing highlight reel KO’s which makes him being a must-see fighter to fans, even if his title contender days may have passed him by.

However, Lewis does not think his best days are behind him. “I’m more excited about this fight than any other fight I’ve ever had,” Lewis said. “I trained my butt off for this one, and I don’t have no injuries coming into this fight. I’m feeling healthy. I’m less than 10 pounds away from making my weight already. And usually I’m like 15 pounds, 20 pounds before weigh-ins. I’m less than 10 pounds right now from making weight.

“I’m feeling great right now. I actually really feel like this is my prime. Whenever I was in my 20s, early 30s, I didn’t feel this good. Now I’m feeling fantastic right now.”

The Houston native says he has a surprise in store for the St. Louis crowd. “I want to do something special. I’ve been working on it on my in my garage. My coach don’t know nothing about this. So, what I’m about to throw out the first minute of my fight, my coach don’t have nothing to do with it. So, if you all see me throw something crazy, just know it wasn’t my coaches idea. It’s my idea. That’s how good I’m feeling right now.”

Lewis may have something planned for the fight on Saturday, but he also has plans on something more outside of the octagon. He answered online rumors swirling around the idea of him joining the WWE. “Yeah, we are actually in talks right now and we’ve been talking for a few months now. I was supposed to go down there in February to check everything out,” Lewis said.

While he has never become a champion, Lewis has had a storied career in the UFC. His start for the company dates back to 2014 and he has collected key victories over Gabriel Gonzaga, Roy Nelson, Travis Browne, Marcin Tybura, Francis Ngannou, Alexander Volkov, Blagoy Ivanov, Aleksei Oleinik, Curtis Blaydes, and Marcos Rogerio de Lima. He already has the UFC record for knockouts with 14, another KO on Saturday will solidify his position as the greatest knockout artist in UFC heavyweight division history.

Nascimento has won three straight fights and most recently defeated Don’Tale Mayes by unanimous decision in November. Since making his debut in 2020 he has gone 4-1-1 in the UFC. The Brazilian is confident heading into the fight with Lewis on Saturday.

“I have many ways to beat him,” Nascimento said. “Putting him on the ground is just one more way. I can strike, I can knock him out. I can finish him, or I can fight all five rounds.”

He continued, “For sure, he has a big name,” Nascimento said. “He has a good name and good hype on him, but after this Saturday, everyone is going to know my name because I will beat him.”

The 31-year-old is ready to perform in his first main event. “This is my first main event, that’s too different. Too different for sure. The preparation is hard. I’m gonna fight five rounds. I am ready, I am excited you know. I am ready for Saturday. For sure, it will be a big win,” he said.

Nascimento knows what a win over a name such as Lewis does for him. “This fight is super important for me. I always see that your next fight is always the most important fight. This guy is the next step to enter the top 10 for me. Everything I think now is him & Everything I know now is him. I will beat him.”

This fight will be a step up in challenge for Nascimento. Even though he is fighting a 39-year-old version of Derrick Lewis, he cannot underestimate the power, or it could be a short night for him. For Lewis, if he can minimize the grappling exchanges and stay off his back, he has the clear advantage on the feet.

The co-main event of the evening will be in the welterweight division between St. Louis native #11 Joaquin Buckley and Nursulton Ruziboev.

Buckley campaigned hard for a main event spot on the card in his hometown. He even crashed the UFC 300 press conference last month begging to be on the card from the stands. His viral moment even made UFC president Dana White smile. While he was added to the card late and did not get the main event spot, Buckley gets his wish to perform in front of his people in St. Louis.

The 30-year-old has won three straight having most recently defeated long-time contender Vicente Luque by second round TKO in March. He expressed his excitement to be fighting in St. Louis.

“I haven't fought here since 2018, and now to be fighting on the biggest promotion on the planet right at home and getting exactly what I asked for,” Buckley said. “We didn't get the main event, but still, co-main is just as nice and I'm excited to get this knockout.”

Buckley is ready to put on a show. “I feel like I'm bringing the fans out for this one,” Buckley said. “I think a lot of people, even though they're excited to see Derrick Lewis and excited to see all the other fighters, I think I'm kind of boosting up the numbers a little bit for this one.”

While Luque represents his biggest win and a spot in the rankings, he is taking things one fight at a time. “It means a lot to me that I'm able to be a ranked fighter now, and it gets me closer to that title,” Buckley said. “Every fight has its own rewards to it. I’m not looking back in the past with having that fight with Vicente; I'm blessed with it, and I'm blessed with that win. Now we're looking at Nursulton, who's now trying to take my spot, and I just got it. We're going to stop him from doing that.”

How does he feel about his opponent? “He's a big boy, 6'5, could have been an NBA player if he wanted to be,” Buckley said. “I don't know how his game is on the court, but regardless, though, I got to respect him. He has a lot of finishes in his career, and, of course, me, I'm a knockout artist as well, so this fight is not going to the judges, obviously.”

The St. Louis native knows how important a win in this fight could be for his career. “I think this is going to be the one that kind of blows me up,” Buckley said. “I think this is the one that actually takes my career to the next level and makes me skip some spots. A good performance over Nursulton and what he brings and what he has to offer, I feel like the UFC is definitely going to reward me after this.”

Ruziboev is 2-0 in the UFC and is coming off a first round TKO of Sedrique Dumas in March. The Uzbekistan native has fought his most recent fights at middleweight and has the clear size advantage over Buckley.

The 30-year-old talked about dropping down to welterweight for a big fight with Buckley. “Welterweight is my natural weight and I see myself going far in this division,” said Ruziboev. “I cut almost no weight at middleweight, so when the opportunity came, it was a no brainer for me to go down a weight class and take this fight.

“I want to fight in both weight classes,” he added, sharing his ideal vision for how things will work going forward. “If they need a short notice fight at middleweight, I will take it for sure, but for now I want to focus on welterweight.”

Ruziboev talked about his opponent. “Buckley is a very good fighter,” began the divisional debutant. “Fundamentally he is a striker, but we have seen him wrestle in fights before. I will be ready for all situations for this fight. I like this matchup because it’s at welterweight, both of us are strikers, and I like striking fights; they are exciting for the fans.”

He continued by addressing fighting in hostile territory against Buckley. “I have fought in my opponent’s hometown before and this is nothing new to me,” he added when asked about going from having tremendous support in Atlantic City to battling Buckley on his home turf this weekend. “Of course, I like when I have people who come and support me, but if not, then no problem, because inside the Octagon there is only two people.”

Despite fighting in the biggest fight of his career, Ruziboev has big plans for the night and beyond. “I’m prepared for three rounds, but I know I will finish this guy in the first round, Inshallah,” he said confidently. “Now I will finish my next opponent and crack the Top 15 rankings, (and) from Top 15, the title is not too far away. I have big plans in this company.

"After this fight, I want to fight at UFC 302 (on) June 1 in Newark.”

The rest of the main card:

Light Heavyweight - #11 Alonzo Menifield vs. Carlos Ulberg

Lightweight - Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Mateusz Rębecki

Featherweight - #15 Alex Caceres vs. Sean Woodson

Heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Robelis Despaigne

ESPN + prelims:

Lightweight - Chase Hooper vs. Viacheslav Borshchev

Lightweight - Terrance McKinney vs. Esteban Ribovics

Women's Strawweight - Tabatha Ricci vs. Tecia Pennington

Welterweight - Billy Goff vs. Trey Waters

Flyweight - Charles Johnson vs. Jake Hadley

Welterweight - Jared Gooden vs. Kevin Jousset

Women's Flyweight - JJ Aldrich vs. Veronica Hardy