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After months of speculation, UFC 230 – taking place in New York’s famed Madison Square Garden on November 3rd – finally has a main event, as Daniel Cormier will defend his UFC Heavyweight title against challenger Derrick Lewis.
We all know Cormier’s story – he’s one of the most visible and popular stars on the UFC’s roster – but Lewis is somewhat of a surprising challenger due to his unusual rise through the ranks.
One of the UFC’s most entertaining fighters both in the cage and on the mic, few people expect ‘The Black Beast’ to become the new champion, but over his 15-fight, 4-year UFC career, everyone’s learned to throw their predictions out of the window when it comes to the power puncher from New Orleans.
Here are Derrick Lewis’s 5 best UFC fights thus far.
#1 vs. Guto Inocente - UFC Ultimate Fighter XIX Finale – 07/06/2014
Lewis signed with the UFC in early 2014 and brought with him a solid record of 9-2 with one No Contest.
Hardcore fans recognised his name largely due to a win over top prospect Jared Rosholt in 2012, but he was still largely under the radar when he TKO’d fellow debutant Jack May in his first Octagon appearance.
After his second fight though, nobody would forget who he was again. Faced with Guto Inocente – a man who, if you believed certain sources, regularly used to beat up Alistair Overeem in training sessions – Lewis came in with a size advantage, but an apparent disadvantage when it came to overall skills.
In the end though, skills didn’t come into play – the only thing deciding the fight was the face-melting power of the Black Beast.
After some initial exchanges, Lewis caught a kick from Inocente and tackled him to the ground. The Brazilian looked to scramble to his feet, but as he turned to his side, Lewis met him with some crushing right hands – and seconds later, Inocente was unconscious.
It was an odd fight as prior to the punches landing, Lewis certainly hadn’t looked like a world-class Heavyweight. What he clearly did have, though, was the power in his fists to end any fight instantly.
The punches he landed were short, and to generate so much force in them was a major surprise. It was an early message to the rest of the UFC’s Heavyweights that Lewis was a dangerous foe for anyone.
#2 vs. Gabriel Gonzaga - UFC Fight Night 86 – 04/10/2016
After such a hot start to his UFC career, losses to Matt Mitrione and Shawn Jordan slowed Lewis’s hype train somewhat.
He recovered with wins over Damian Grabowski and Viktor Pesta, but those were – no offense – lower-level opponents. In April 2016 came a real test, as he was faced with former UFC title challenger Gabriel Gonzaga – probably his toughest opponent to date.
‘Napao’ had admittedly fallen on some hard times – he’d lost three in a row before slowing the rot with a dull win over Konstantin Erokhin – but with heavy hands and a world-class grappling game, he looked like a tricky challenge for ‘The Black Beast’.
Early on in the fight, it looked like Gonzaga was indeed a step too far for Lewis. After landing an early head kick, Lewis was literally starved of offense, as Gonzaga took him down and dominated him, going from full mount to back mount and coming close to a choke. When Lewis managed to escape to his feet, it almost felt like a miracle.
Better was to come, though. Gonzaga looked for another takedown using a lot of clinch work, and as the fight began to slow down with seconds on the clock, ref Marc Goddard called a clean break. And evidently, all the clinching had made Lewis angry – and awoken his inner beast.
Showing stunning hand speed for a man of his size, Lewis suddenly burst forward into action, and seemingly out of nowhere, he landed a five-punch combination on the Brazilian that left him in a crumpled heap. From the jaws of defeat, Lewis had snatched his biggest victory to date.
#3 vs. Travis Browne – UFC Fight Night 105 – 02/19/2017
Lewis’s first UFC main event came in somewhat odd circumstances – he defeated the largely unknown Shamil Abdurakhimov at UFC Fight Night 102 in December 2016 in a fight that felt like a step down for him after wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Roy Nelson. His next fight would also be the main event, but it was another step up in competition.
Travis Browne had never quite reached the heights his early Octagon performances promised, but the giant Hawaiian – super-athletic, remarkably quick and with finishing skills in all areas – seemed like a very dangerous foe for the Black Beast.
The two men clashed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and what transpired was a true Heavyweight war. The first round was all Browne, as he kicked away at the body of Lewis, hurting him numerous times and even caused him to double over more than once.
Lewis did drop Browne with a right hand, but ‘Hapa’ recovered and soon got back onto offense. It looked like Lewis was painfully outgunned.
In the second round, however, that brutal punching power again proved to be enough to turn the tide. A violent flurry early in the round put Browne into the danger zone, and despite all his good work early on, he was never able to recover fully.
Late in the round, Lewis finally put him down – and in a criminal referee job, Mario Yamasaki allowed an unconscious Browne to take at least four needless shots before stopping the fight.
It was an epic win for Lewis, but his post-fight mic work made things even more memorable. In a bizarre promo, Lewis claimed he was never hurt by Browne’s body shots – he just needed a sh*t – then went on to claim his cardio had been poor as he’d had too much sex during his training camp!
The whole thing – from the fight to the post-fight rant – summed up Lewis perfectly; a fighter with a lot of holes in his game, but enough power to ensure those holes don’t always matter, and a man with a ton of personality who’s always entertaining – even when he’s probably not attempting to be.
#4 vs. Marcin Tybura – UFC Fight Night 126 – 02/18/2018
By late 2017 – despite a loss to Mark Hunt – it was clear that Lewis was somehow a legitimate contender at Heavyweight, and so the UFC matched him with former champion Fabricio Werdum.
Unfortunately, a back injury forced Lewis out of the fight and seemed to curtail his career somewhat.
When he made his return at Fight Night 126 in February, he was faced with fellow up-and-comer Marcin Tybura – and nobody was really sure quite what he’d have left in his arsenal after such a serious injury setback.
Thankfully, the Black Beast proved that he hadn’t changed one single bit during his time away.
The punching power was still there – he dropped Tybura in the opening round – but the questionable ground game and gas tank still hung over him too, and he couldn’t capitalise when he hurt the Polish fighter and ended up being largely dominated on the ground in the second round, giving up what looked likely to be a 10-8 on the scorecards.
By the time the third round came around, Lewis was sucking in enough wind to deprive the front row of oxygen.
But once again, his punching power proved to be the ultimate equaliser. Tybura looked tired too and couldn’t secure a takedown, and halfway through the round, Lewis surprised him with a throw.
As Tybura stood, Lewis spotted an opening and pounced – and a vicious flurry and some follow-up hammer fists were enough to seal the deal.
And if his fighting style hadn’t changed, nor had his personality. In the post-fight interview, Lewis once again went on an entertaining rant – before promising to “go deep” with his wife later that night. The fight affirmed one thing – in terms of entertainment value, you couldn’t overlook the Black Beast.
#5 vs. Alexander Volkov – UFC 229 – 10/06/2018
Lewis followed up his win over Tybura by taking part in one of the most disappointing fights in UFC history against Francis Ngannou.
The two men – both famed for their terrifying punching power – put on a staring contest similar to Ken Shamrock’s infamous fight with Dan Severn – and although Lewis came away with the win, it almost felt as bad as a loss.
Matched next with dangerous contender Alexander Volkov – who had beaten Fabricio Werdum earlier in the year – it was clear that if he wanted a title shot, Lewis would need to pull off something special. And that’s exactly what he did – even if it wasn’t exactly in normal circumstances.
For almost the full fifteen minutes of the fight, Lewis was thoroughly dominated by Volkov. The Russian fighter outlanded him statistically by 80 significant strikes to just 21, and the Black Beast was once again badly hurt on numerous occasions by shots to the body.
It looked like Volkov would stroll to a unanimous decision – but with literally seconds to go, Lewis decided that it was time to get desperate.
And so he started swinging those heavy punches of his, and inexplicably, he caught Volkov cold with a huge overhand right. The Russian went down, and Lewis followed with a series of punches that knocked him out cold.
Not only had Lewis completed arguably the greatest comeback in UFC history, but he decided to celebrate in unique fashion too – by removing his fight shorts, apparently “because his balls were hot”, and then stating that he’d won the fight for US President Donald Trump – all tongue in cheek, of course.
He also stated that he wasn’t ready for a title shot due to his negligible cardio – but evidently, that no longer matters. The UFC made Lewis an offer he couldn’t refuse, and now he faces Daniel Cormier in a matter of weeks.
Can he really pull the win off? It’s unlikely – but with his history of delivering fight-changing punches from nowhere, can you really bet against him?
