Derrick Lewis is for real.
In the biggest fight of his career, a main event slot opposite Travis Browne, Derrick Lewis scored yet another stoppage victory. The pair of heavyweights headlined UFC Fight Night 105 in Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Saturday night.
The win didn’t come easy for “The Black Beast,” though. Browne outpointed the heavyweight contender in the first round, mostly with devastating kicks to Lewis’ body. Lewis appeared to be hurt to the stomach multiple times in the opening five minutes, but according to him, it wasn’t because of an injury — or anything even close to that. Whatever the case may be, Lewis survived and turned things up a notch — or maybe two notches — in the second round.
Early in the second round, the 32-year-old landed some vicious overhand punches that wobbled his opponent, and managed to get Browne down to the mat. Browne eventually worked his way back to his feet, but not for long. With approximately two minutes left in the round, Lewis clipped Browne with a devastating right hand that sent Browne tumbling to the canvas. Lewis followed up with a bit of ground-and-pound — some OK, some unnecessary — until the referee finally stepped in.
What was the highlight of this fight?
Once Lewis tagged Browne for the first time, Lewis went after the former top contender like there was no tomorrow. Lewis’ knockout was stunning, but just to change things up a bit, the highlight of this fight for me was how quickly the tides turned, and also Lewis’ ferocity once he had Browne hurt. After Lewis landed the first devastating shot, he followed up with a handful more, landed a takedown and got into a dominant position, and then landed one more fierce blow to cap off the night.
Where do these two go from here?
Lewis won’t actually likely move up the official rankings at all, as he was ranked above Browne by one spot going into the matchup, but this is still a major win for the New Orleans native. Browne was once considered a future champion by most and had a No. 1 contender fight in 2014. Lewis has to be considered a legitimate heavyweight contender after this victory, and he’ll likely get a top five to seven opponent next. There are a couple solid options for Lewis; Lewis versus Francis Ngannou, Ben Rothwell and the winner of Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt (UFC 209) are all fights I could see happening next.
Browne has lost five of his last seven, with three of those losses coming by way of knockout, so it’s tough to determine where he goes from here. “Hapa” will likely stick around for at least one more fight, since he’s only lost to top competition, but considering some of the UFC’s interesting releases lately, you never know. Browne still has many tools in the bag, but doesn’t seem to be able to put everything together these days. Leaving Jackson-Wink MMA is paying off to be not the greatest career decision for the 34-year-old.
Watch now, later, or never?
Lewis vs. Browne was a really, really fun scrap. Browne almost had the fight in the bag early, but Lewis dug deep and solidified yet another come-from-behind victory in devastating fashion. Check it out right away.