UFC Vegas 45 record rundown: Can Derrick Lewis become UFC knockout king?

Derrick Lewis picked up his 12th UFC knockout in February when he stopped Curtis Blaydes at 1:26 mark of the second round of their UFC Fight Night main event contest. The “Performance of the Night” bonus winning knockout made Lewis the most prolific knockout artist in UFC history, moving him one KO ahead of Matt Brown. Lewis sat atop that list until June, when Brown rejoined him there following a second-round knockout of Dhiego Lima.

Lewis, who is currently the No. 3 ranked fighter in the official UFC heavyweight rankings, had the opportunity to pull ahead of Brown in August when he faced Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Instead, Lewis was on the wrong end of a TKO, as Gane earned a third-round stoppage via strikes.

Lewis, who has 22 UFC fights to his name since he made his promotional debut in 2014 with a TKO win over Jack May, looks to get his 13th UFC knockout on Saturday when he faces Chris Daukaus in the main event of UFC Vegas 45.

Daukaus, who made his UFC debut in 2020, has quickly climbed the UFC heavyweight rankings. Four fights into his UFC career, Daukaus is the No. 7 ranked fighter in the official UFC rankings. Daukaus’ four knockouts in those four fights — three of which came in the first stanza — are a major reason for his placement in the heavyweight standings. The matchup with Lewis is, without a doubt, the biggest test of Daukaus’ professional career.

Like Lewis, who has five career knockout losses, Daukaus has been stopped as a professional, with two of his three career losses coming via knockout. His most recent knockout loss came in 2019 when Azunna Anyanwu stopped Daukaus in the second round of a Cage Fury FC heavyweight title bout.

UFC Vegas 45 takes place Saturday at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event is the final fight card of 2021 for the UFC. The entire event streams on ESPN+.