Lewis Draws ‘Sledgehammer’ For Feb. 8

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Call Mattress Mack because someone is going to sleep!

You know the old saying about being careful what you wish for.

Former light heavyweight contender Ilir Latifi, previously ranked in the Top 5 at 205 pounds, will try his luck at heavyweight after back-to-back losses against Volkan Oezdemir and Corey Anderson, the former of which ended by way of knockout.

His first assignment?

None other than heavyweight power puncher and No. 5-ranked contender Derrick Lewis, a fan-friendly but otherwise odd pairing for the promotion’s upcoming event on Feb. 8, according to ESPN, at a city and venue to be named.

Lewis (22-7, 1 NC) rebounded from consecutive losses against Daniel Cormier and Junior dos Santos to score a hard-fought split-decision win over Blagoy Ivanov at the UFC 244 pay-per-view (PPV) event earlier this month in New York City.

Beating Latifi (14-7, 1 NC), who holds 10 finishes in 14 wins, doesn’t do a whole lot for his place in the heavyweight title hunt, but I don’t think anyone will care — even Lewis — so long as this fight provides the fireworks we all think it can.

We’ll find out in just over two months.