It took Derrick Lewis a little while to get the job done in the main event of UFC Fight Night 102, which took place live from Albany, New York on Friday evening, but he did ultimately walk away with another win on his professional record.
First-time headliner “The Black Beast” squared off against fellow ranked heavyweight Shamil Abdurakhimov, who convincingly won the first three rounds. Abdurakhimov grinded down on Lewis, who offered minimal offense — and so did Abdurakhimov, to be fair — and often caught Lewis’ repetitive kicks to score takedowns. The referee actually warned Abdurakhimov, interestingly enough, to use more offense or else he’d take a point away.
Heading into the fourth round — championship rounds for the first time for both fighters — Lewis and Abdurakhimov both looked tired, but the Russian especially. Lewis knew he needed a finish, and that’s exactly what he got. It came a little later than most spectators expected, but Lewis eventually got Abdurakhimov down to the ground, trapped his opponent’s arm with his knee, and pounded him out for the fourth-round TKO victory.
The win certainly didn’t come easy, but Lewis is still on track to become a future UFC heavyweight contender.
What was the highlight of the fight?
Well, really only one thing happened in this fight, and that was Lewis’ thunderous ground-and-pound to force a stoppage. Before that, there was a lot of staring, a handful of takedowns (with little offense from the Russian while on top), and that’s about it. So I don’t think there was anything else in Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov that even came close to being the fight’s highlight other than the actual finish, so that’s what I’ll go with.
Where do these two go from here?
In my opinion, Lewis’ stock slightly decreases after his performance in Albany. Lewis isn’t particularly known as an active fighter in the later rounds and is sometimes patient, but this wasn’t quite what most fans were expecting to watch on Friday night. Perhaps the spotlight got to Lewis — and Abdurakhimov — and at least he admitted in his post-fight interview that he was unhappy with the win, but fans thought they’d see more violence out of Lewis. He’s still a top 10 heavyweight in my books, because the division is so shallow, but I’m not so sure his ceiling is much higher than where he’s at currently.
On the other hand, Abdurakhimov shouldn’t be expecting another main event spot or a meaningful fight for a while. I’m not really sure that his stock was high enough to begin with to decrease after Friday’s bout, but that doesn’t mean the fight was pretty by any means. Abdurakhimov will still get past lots of heavyweights in the UFC, but I don’t think his timidness shown off in the Lewis fight will get him too far.
Watch now, later, or never?
I hate to be so mean, but fast-forward is a thing. I’d use that for this fight if I were you — just check out the finish and that’s about it.