Curtis Blaydes did not apologize for his strategy going into a huge heavyweight fight with Derrick Lewis. Blaydes was going to use his dominant fight early and often. He told anyone who listened.
Maybe it was a hoax. But Blaydes should have stayed with his original game plan, as Lewis crushed him with a tie over 1:26 of the second round of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event in Las Vegas .
Blaydes gained confidence in the first round and attempted only one elimination, which filled Lewis. And Lewis, one of the most dangerous KO artists in MMA history, made him pay.
It was the biggest upset at a major UFC event since Michael Bisping won Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in 2016, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Lewis was a +350 dog, according to Caesars Sportsbook, of William Hill, ESPN’s probability provider. Bisping was +400 against Rockhold five years ago.
With the stoppage, Lewis tied Vitor Belfort with the highest number of playoffs in UFC history (12). Lewis is also tied with the second wins in UFC heavyweight history (16) with Frank Mir. Andrei Arlovski is the all-time UFC heavyweight leader with 19.
Saturday’s arrival came when Blaydes stretched, trying to narrow the distance to get a relegation or elimination. Lewis saw it coming and let go with a large top. Blaydes’ body shook on impact and he fell unconscious when he fell on the canvas. Lewis continued to punch the ground, until referee Herb Dean came in to take it out.
“That was the only punch I expected throughout the fight,” Lewis said. “I knew I would come in … That was all I expected. I didn’t bother throwing a two, a punch or anything.”
Blaydes was very effective in the first round of feet, landing hard combinations and chewing Lewis’s lead legs with kicks. He ended up beating Lewis 28-7 in major attacks. Lewis landed a hard hard hand before he hesitated briefly on Blaydes, but otherwise Blaydes had control.
Thus began the second round, but Lewis is always a threat to put a rival to sleep. And Blaydes was trapped with an uppercut bomb.
Blaydes did not get any elimination in the fight. He had 59 professional eliminations in the UFC, most of the history of the UFC heavyweights.
“At the end of the first round, I said,‘ It’s messy, it’s messing up, ’” Lewis said of Blaydes not landing a knockout. “That’s what I was saying in my head … I was saying, ‘Okay, keep playing this game.’ That’s what I was saying to myself. ‘
The fight was originally scheduled for November 28, but Blaydes tested positive for COVID-19, and the contest was withdrawn a day before the event before the official heavyweights.
Upon arrival, ESPN had Blaydes at number 3 and Lewis at number 5 in the world in heavyweight.
Francis Ngannou will get the next title against champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 on March 27 and the great Jon Jones, pound for pound, seems to be waiting for the winner by the wings. Lewis is now in pole position in case anything happens to any of these athletes, but he said it would be nonsense to say he wants a title after Ngannou and Jones are ahead.
Lewis said, instead, that he wants to fight Alistair Overeem, even though Overeem fell eliminated by Alexander Volkov.
“It’s going to be good to fight him, because he’s a so-called legend,” Lewis said. “It would be nice to fight someone like that … We’ve been trying to fight him for years, and he’s already rejected the fight four times.”
UFC Fight Night took place at the UFC Apex, the venue for the street promotion of the Las Vegas corporate campus.
Lewis (25-7, 1 NC) has won four in a row. In August he won the KO against Aleksei Oleinik. The Houston resident already owned most of the playoffs in UFC heavyweight history before Saturday. Lewis, a 36-year-old fan favorite, has won seven again and 13 of 16 overall.
Blaydes (14-3, 1 NC) had won four in a row and, most recently, beat Alexander Volkov by unanimous decision victory in June. The Illinois native, who coaches the Colorado Elevation Fight Team, had lost before a Saturday with just one UFC man: Ngannou, twice.
Blaydes, 30, is a junior wrestling champion of the National Athletic Association of Junior College and usually promotes his style based on control and elimination in MMA.