Alexander Volkov-Walt Harris Booked for UFC 254 Co-Headliner of Khabib vs. Gaethje

Confirmed UFC adding a heavyweight bout between Alexander Volkov (@AlexDragoVolkov) and Walt Harris (@thebigticket205) to UFC 254 PPV on Oct. 24. First reported by https://t.co/Z7YM6j31yv.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 31, 2020

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Two hard-hitting heavyweights are going to be on the marquee of a Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view in October.

On Wednesday night, Sports.ru first broke the story that Alexander Volkov (31-8) will square off with Walt Harris (13-8, 1 NC) at UFC 254 on Oct. 24. Multiple outlets have since confirmed the booking. The location of this heavyweight rumble is not yet decided, but it will likely be held at either the UFC Apex in Las Vegas or Yas Island on Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The two heavyweights combine for 33 knockouts in their 44 career wins.

Volkov will be looking to bounce back from a one-sided decision loss to Curtis Blaydes in June, where the Russian was taken down at will and ground out for 25 minutes. Through his tenure inside the Octagon, the former Bellator MMA champ has notched wins over Fabricio Werdum, Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson and Timothy Johnson. “Drago” was well on his way to defeating Derrick Lewis at UFC 229 in 2018, but with 11 seconds left, Lewis scored a miraculous comeback to knock the Russian out.

Harris returned to action in May in a headlining bout against Alistair Overeem, but his emotional appearance was halted along with a four-fight unbeaten streak when Overeem finished him in the second round. All 13 of Harris’ career victories have come by knockout within two rounds, as a decision win over Andrei Arlovski was overturned when Harris tested positive for a banned substance. In addition to this new fight booking, “The Big Ticket” is also running for a seat on his local city council in Homewood, Alabama.

UFC 254 goes down on Oct. 24 at an undetermined location. Headlining the pay-per-view is a lightweight championship unification match between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje. No other fights have been booked for the card yet, and the promotion opted to cancel its earlier pay-per-view card on Oct. 10 to leave just one in October.