Curtis Blaydes did not apologize for his strategy when entering a huge heavyweight fight with Derrick Lewis. Blaydes would use his dominant fight from the beginning and often. He told anyone who wanted to listen.
Maybe it was bait. But Blaydes should have kept his original game plan, as Lewis crushed him with a knockout in the uppercut at 1:26 of the second round at the UFC Fight Night main event in Las Vegas.
Blaydes gained confidence standing in the first round and attempted only one takedown, which Lewis backed away. 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, according to Caesars William Hill, ESPN’s odds provider. Bisping was +400 against Rockhold five years ago.
With the stoppage, Lewis tied Vitor Belfort with the biggest knockout in UFC history (12). Lewis is now tied for second place in UFC heavyweight history (16) with Frank Mir. Andrei Arlovski is the all-time UFC heavyweight leader with 19 wins.
The end of Saturday came when Blaydes ducked, trying to shorten the distance for a clinch or fall. Lewis saw this coming and fired with a massive uppercut. Blaydes’ body shuddered at the impact, and he fell unconscious when he fell on the screen. Lewis followed on the floor with punches until referee Herb Dean came in to remove him.
“That was the only punch I was expecting during the entire fight,” said Lewis. “I knew he was going to come in … That was all I was hoping for. I wasn’t worried about doubling up, a jab or anything.”
Blaydes was very effective in the first standing assault, hitting hard combinations and chewing Lewis’s legs with kicks. He ended up overcoming Lewis 28-7 in significant attacks. Lewis landed a strong right hand at the start that rocked Blaydes briefly, but on the other hand, Blaydes was in control.
That’s how the second round also started, but Lewis is always a threat to put an opponent to sleep. And Blaydes was caught with an uppercut bomb.
Blaydes did not get a single drop in the fight. He had 59 takedowns in his UFC career, the biggest in UFC heavyweight history.
“At the end of the first round, I was like, he’s messing up, he’s messing up,” said Lewis of Blaydes not getting a takedown. “This is what I was saying in my head … I was like, okay, keep playing this game. This is what I was saying to myself.”
The fight was originally scheduled for November 28, but Blaydes tested positive for COVID-19, and the dispute was adjourned the day before the event, before the official weigh-in. Entering, ESPN had Blaydes ranked No. 3 and Lewis ranked No. 5 in the world at heavyweight.
Francis Ngannou is taking his next shot at the title against champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 on March 27 and big weight by weight Jon Jones seems to be waiting on the wings for the winner. Lewis is now in pole position should anything happen to any of these athletes, but he said it would be foolish to say that he wants a shot at the title, as Ngannou and Jones are ahead of him.
Lewis, instead, said he wants to fight Alistair Overeem next, despite Overeem coming from a knockout loss to Alexander Volkov.
“It will be cool to fight him, because he is a legend,” he said. “It would be cool to fight someone like that. … We have been trying to fight him for years and he has already refused the fight four times.”
UFC Fight Night took place at UFC Apex, the promotion site across from the corporate campus in Las Vegas.
Lewis (25-7, 1 NC) won four in a row. It was coming from a KO victory over Aleksei Oleinik in August. The Houston resident had the most knockouts in UFC heavyweight history before Saturday. Lewis, a 36-year-old fan favorite, won seven out of nine and 13 out of 16 overall.
Blaydes (14-3, 1 NC) won four consecutive games and, more recently, beat Alexander Volkov via unanimous decision last June. The Illinois native, who trains outside Colorado’s Elevation Fight Team, had lost to just one man in the UFC before Saturday: Ngannou, twice.
Blaydes, 30, is a former NJCAA national wrestling champion and generally touts his style of fall and solo control in MMA.