Overview
- Lewis said on his podcast that the UFC offered him Rico Verhoeven for UFC 324 and that Verhoeven turned it down.
- Lewis is now scheduled to fight Waldo Cortes-Acosta on Jan. 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the UFC 324 main card.
- He added that a proposed rematch with Sergei Pavlovich was pursued but declined, leading to the Cortes-Acosta matchup.
- Verhoeven vacated the GLORY heavyweight title in 2025 and is fielding options across combat sports with only one prior MMA bout, a 2015 TKO win.
- Lewis’s account indicates UFC explored a crossover debut for Verhoeven as it builds the Paramount+ era event.