Curtis Blaydes did not apologize for his strategy in a huge fight with Derrick Lewis. Blaydes would use his dominant fight early and often. He told anyone to listen.
Maybe it was bait. But Blaydes should have stayed with his original game plan, while Lewis crushed him with an uppercut knockout at 1:26 of the second round in Saturday’s main event of the UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.
Blaydes gained confidence in the first round and tried only one elimination, which Lewis filled. And Lewis, one of the most dangerous KO artists in MMA history, made him pay.
It was the biggest upset in a major UFC event since Michael Bisping defeated Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in 2016, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Lewis was a +350 underdog on ESPN odds provider Caesars William Hill. Bisping was +400 against Rockhold five years ago.
With the stop, Lewis connects Vitor Belfort with the most eliminators in UFC history (12). Lewis is now tied for the second biggest win in UFC heavyweight history (16) with Frank Mir. Andrei Arlovski is the all-time UFC leader in the heavyweight division with 19.
Saturday’s conclusion came when Blaydes sank, trying to close the gap for a shot or an elimination. Lewis saw her coming and unleashed a superior table. Blaydes’ body shook on impact and he fell unconscious when he fell on the canvas. Lewis followed the ground with his fists until referee Herb Dean came in to take him out.
“That was the only punch I expected for the whole fight,” Lewis said. “I knew he was coming in. … That was all I was waiting for. I wasn’t worried about throwing one or two, a jab, or something.”
Blaydes was very effective in the first round on his feet, landing hard combinations and chewing Lewis’ lead legs with blows. He went on to beat Lewis 28-7 in significant strikes. Lewis landed early on a strong right hand, which shook Blaydes briefly, but otherwise Blaydes was in control.
That’s how the second round started, but Lewis is always a threat to put an opponent to sleep. And Blaydes was hit with a bomb by an upper box.
Blaydes did not land a single elimination in the fight. He had 59 career eliminations in the UFC, the largest in UFC heavyweight history.
“At the end of the first round, I was like, tangled, tangled,” Lewis said of Blaydes who did not land an elimination. “That’s what I was saying in my head … I was like, I keep playing that game. That’s what I was saying to myself.”
The race was originally scheduled for November 28, but Blaydes gave positive results for COVID-19, and the competition was drawn the day before the event before the official weigh-in. Entering, ESPN ranked Blaydes 3rd and Lewis 5th in the world in the heavyweight division.
Francis Ngannou receives the next title shot at UFC 260 champion Stipe Miocic on March 27, and the great Jon Jones seems to be waiting in the wings for the winner. Lewis is now in pole position if something happens to any of these athletes, but he said it would be foolish to say he wants a title shot, given that Ngannou and Jones are in front of him.
Lewis said instead that he still wants to fight Alistair Overeem, despite the fact that Overeem lost an elimination to Alexander Volkov.
“It will be hard to fight him, because he is a so-called legend,” he said. “It would be great to fight someone like that … We’ve been trying to fight him for years and he’s already refused to fight four times.”
UFC Fight Night took place at UFC Apex, the site of the promotion opposite its corporate campus in Las Vegas.
Lewis (25-7, 1 NC) won four in a row. He had a KO victory over Aleksei Oleinik in August. The Houston resident held most of the UFC history qualifiers in the heavyweight category as early as Saturday. Lewis, a 36-year-old favorite fan, won seven out of nine and 13 out of 16 overall.
Blaydes (14-3, 1 NC) had won four consecutive innings and most recently defeated Alexander Volkov by a unanimous decision in June last year. The Illinois native, who trains on the Colorado uplift combat team, had lost to only one UFC man before Saturday: Ngannou, twice.
Blaydes, 30, is a former NJCAA national wrestling champion and usually supports his style of elimination and soil control in MMA.