Curtis Blaydes vs. Chris Daukuas to serve as new UFC Columbus headliner

UFC Columbus has a new main event – and it’s in the heavyweight division.

With Jan Blachowicz forced out of his fight vs. Aleksandar Rakic due to injury, a matchup that was expected to be the March 26 headliner at Nationwide Arena, the promotion has booked Curtis Blaydes and Chris Daukaus as the new main event.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after an initial report by Ariel Helwani but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Blaydes (15-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) will look to turn a standalone victory into a winning streak and carry the momentum he gained from a bounce-back unanimous decision win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik in September.

The bout will be the second straight headliner for Daukaus (12-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC), who competed in his first promotional main event in December against Derrick Lewis. On that card, Daukaus had a five-fight winning streak snapped and suffered his first UFC loss when he was knocked out by Lewis in Round 1.

With the addition, the UFC Columbus lineup now includes:

• Curtis Blaydes vs. Chris Daukaus
• Amanda Ribas vs. Michelle Waterson
• Max Griffin vs. Neil Magny
• Sara McMann vs. Karol Rosa
• Askar Askarov vs. Kai Kara-France
• Bryan Barberena vs. Matt Brown
• Alexa Grasso vs. Joanne Wood
• Seungwoo Choi vs. Tucker Lutz
• Danaa Batgerel vs. Montel Jackson
• David Dvorak vs. Matheus Nicolau
• Aliaskhab Khizriev vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov
• Nate Landwehr vs. Lerone Murphy
• Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Marc Diakiese
• Luis Saldana vs. Bruno Souza
• Ilir Latifi vs. Aleksei Oleinik