Alexander Romanov, Blagoy Ivanov Set to Collide at July 1 UFC on ESPN 48 Card

Two of the heftier ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweights
will slug it out in a month.

MMA Junkie broke the matchup news on Thursday that Alexander
Romanov (16-2) and Blagoy
Ivanov (19-5) will be meeting on July 1. The heavyweight clash,
taking place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, will like serve as part
of
UFC on ESPN 48’s main card. The fight was confirmed shortly
after its announcement by Romanov on
Instagram.

Moldova’s Romanov has seen better days of late, as he is currently
riding the only losing streak of his career. In August 2022,
Romanov threw down with Marcin
Tybura, and he dropped a majority verdict. A rebound effort
against higher-ranked Alexander
Volkov in March did not go his way either, as the Russian
punched him out in a little over two minutes. Those losses ended a
triumphant opening to his career, where he won 16 fights and never
heard the final bell. Along that run, one that included five wins
in the UFC, “King Kong” had never needed more than 11:05 to secure
a victory.

Ivanov has struggled as of late, having dropped three of list last
four, albeit it to tough competition. While he stayed afloat thanks
to a decision win over Marcos
Rogerio de Lima in 2022, dating back nearly four years, Ivanov
was topped by Derrick
Lewis, Augusto
Sakai and Marcin
Tybura. While the heavyweight known as “Baga” posts an overall
finish rate of 63%, he has gone the distance in all seven of his
UFC outings.

UFC on ESPN 48 will go on at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on July 1,
and middleweights Sean
Strickland and Abusupiyan
Magomedov will square off atop the billing. The fight order is
still in the works, although a welterweight bout between Kevin Lee and
Rinat
Fakhretdinov as well as a lightweight affair pitting Damir
Ismagulov against Grant
Dawson will likely serve on the main card alongside this newly
announced heavyweight tilt.