UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov results and post-fight analysis

Derrick Lewis is a harsh critic of his own performances, but he was on point tonight. I could write three paragraphs about how bad Lewis fought tonight – continuing to throw kicks despite getting taken down nearly every time, doing nothing to cut off the cage, not showing any urgency at all – but I think Lewis phrased it better than I can during his post-fight interview:

“That’s some bulls*it.”

Lewis managed to pick up a fourth-round TKO win over Shamil Abdurakhimov, but to say it wasn’t pretty is an insult to other things that aren’t pretty. It was horrible. Abdurakhimov wanted absolutely nothing to do with Lewis on the feet, even getting formally warned for inactivity due to his running. But he was up three rounds because Lewis did everything wrong. Until the final round.

Finally, after 15 minutes of nothing, Lewis decided to show some urgency. And guess what? He won the fight in short order. Clinch, takedown, bombs – done. That was all it took. Abdurakhimov was completely hooped as soon as he ended up on his back. It’s just too bad it took forever for Lewis to actually go ahead and try it.

A win is a win. That’s true. But Lewis doesn’t deserve an opponent ranked ahead of him after that for his next bout. And I don’t think we’ll see him in a headliner again anytime soon.

• Francis Ngannou scares the crap out of me. Who just grabs a standing kimura and pulls so hard that his (heavyweight!) opponent is forced to the ground? Then he just puts his knee on Anthony Hamilton’s belly and ripped at his arm some more until Hamilton submits in agony. That was straight scary. I can’t wait to see him fight a big name.
• Sean O’Connell was never really in the fight with Corey Anderson. He just got taken down and beaten up for the entire first round. So how does he lead out in the second? A lazy leg kick that led to him getting planted flat on his back again. It was nice to see Anderson show some killer instinct though, which led to a TKO victory.
• Gian Villante and Saparbek Safarov put on a crazy roller coaster of a fight. Villante dropped Safarov. Safarov hurt his knee throwing a kick. Then Safarov dropped Villante. Then Villante battered him some more. Safarov satisfying the doctors by doing a (painful) squat to prove his knee was good to go was nuts – especially because he immediately staggered to the cage in obvious pain after they left. Safarov has ridiculous heart and he’s double tough, but it was pretty obvious Villante was going to win early in the second. It took until late in the round, but win he did.
• Villante’s post-fight interview was absolutely hilarious. Leads with “He’s a tough little f*cker!” Then he gives Joe Silva a well-deserved shoutout, but seemed to insult Albany in the process. Finally, anyone that closes an interview with “Let’s go f*ckin’ drink!” has a fan in me.
• Justine Kish and Ashley Yoder put on a pretty fun fight in the featured prelim fight. Kish just keeps pressing forward and while she was outclassed on the ground, her strength and motor kept her out of major danger. I look forward to seeing her fight again.
• Randy Brown was stuck in an armbar seemingly forever, but he survived the first round and looked really dominant in the second in a good win over Brian Camozzi.
• Gerald Meerschaert is a big man for his division, and after a couple of minutes of timidity, he looked excellent with a nice anaconda finish of Joe Gigliotti. I liked his post-fight interview too – he’s got some charisma.
• Andrew Sanchez looked good in a win over Trevor Smith. He was known as a grappler more than anything, but his striking was really on point. He looks like an interesting prospect at middleweight.
• Shane Burgos could be something special. His fight with Tiago Trator was a hell of a lot of fun, but it was clear who the better fighter was. Burgos used good strategy by cracking Trator with counter left hooks, which is the book on him. Trator showed a lot of resilience, but Burgos’ striking is really fun to watch. I’m not sure why he had to cut off his ponytail before the third round, but it was amusing nonetheless.
• The first three fights on the card were pretty pedestrian. Marc Diakiese showed a wider-ranging game than most expected, and overcame a badly injured eye to take a win over Frankie Perez. Ryan Janes put forth a decent effort in a decision victory over Keith Berish. And Julianna Lima mostly worked over a gunshy JJ Aldrich in the opener.