Tom Aspinall vs. Derrick Lewis could be the next fight to make after UFC Nashville.
The UFC heavyweight title might belong to Tom Aspinall but Derrick Lewis still holds the record for most knockouts in the company’s history by a long shot.
Lewis made it 16 KO’s in the Octagon with a 35-second TKO of the tallest fighter on the roster, Tallison Teixeira, who protested the stoppage as early. Lewis has more KO wins in the UFC than Aspinall has pro wins after UFC Nashville.
Lewis’ KO comes during a shake-up in the heavyweight division, with interim titleholder Aspinall taking over as undisputed champion as a result of Jon Jones’ official retirement from MMA.
After many ducking accusations and a potential White House UFC event thrown his way, Jones is ‘keeping his options’ open by stepping back into the drug testing pool, keeping hopes of Dana White’s ‘dream main event’ against Aspinall alive.
One of the most credentialed middleweights of all time thinks a perennial contender like Lewis can fit into the 600+ day wait for Jones vs. Aspinall.
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Chris Weidman: Tom Aspinall vs. Derrick Lewis ‘could start marketing’ Jon Jones fight at White House
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman said Aspinall’s first undisputed title defense should be made against Lewis.
The former title challenger has won three out of his last four fights and is one of the biggest names the UFC has to offer.
While he’s not the #1 contender like Ciryl Gane, who has a win over him, Lewis is said to carry ‘more name value’ than the Frenchman, according to former UFC star Alan Jouban on the desk.
If the Jones vs. Aspinall fight is a possibility, Weidman thinks Lewis would be a good test for the new champion in the meantime.
“[Dana White] mentioned about the possibility of Jon Jones versus Aspinall on that [White House event], but that fight’s gonna be in July of next year,” Weidman said on the UFC Nashville post-show.
“That’s gonna be another year, basically, to wait. Why not give Aspinall Derrick Lewis right now?” Weidman suggested.
“A fight that people would love to see because Derrick Lewis has the potential to knock out everybody.
Tom Aspinall’s so good on the feet, he’s good everywhere. It’s a tough fight, but people would love to see it.
“And then you could start marketing for the next fight in July with Jon Jones,” the former champion added.
Derrick Lewis is 0-2 in heavyweight title fights
Prior to his fight with Teixeira, Lewis said he likely had to win 2-3 fights for a title shot.
Post-fight, the entire desk on the post-show was in agreement Aspinall should get the title shot.
However, it’s hard to overlook the facts that Lewis is 0-2 in title fights. Granted, they were against the all-time great Daniel Cormier (undisputed) and Ciryl Gane (interim) on shorter notice than usual.
How short? Well, Lewis had less than 3 weeks to turn around from a three-round war with Alexander Volkov to a five-round title fight with Cormier at UFC 230 in 2018. Lewis lost by submission. Lewis accepted the call to fight Cormier 3 days after his fight against Volkov.
Lewis also lost to Gane by TKO at UFC 265 in 2021, telling MMA Junkie he didn’t have a ‘proper build-up’ to the interim title fight. After all, the interim title was created because Ngannou wanted to fight Gane the month after and the UFC reportedly didn’t want to move the date.
Almost four years removed from his last title opportunity, Derrick Lewis could see another one come his way at 40.