Derrick Lewis prolonged his lead because the all-time knockout chief of the UFC’s heavyweight division with a third-round TKO of Rodrigo Nascimento in the primary occasion of UFC Combat Night time on the Enterprise Middle in St. Louis
And in true Derrick Lewis style, after the stoppage he discarded his combat shorts, fanned his fallen opponent with them, launched his protecting cup and gloves into the gang and, for good measure, pulled down his underwear to present the followers a view of his bottom.
“I recognize St. Louis for letting me present my bare ass tonight,” mentioned Lewis, who’s from Houston, Texas. “I could not let no taxicab driver from Brazil beat me.”
The top took a bit of longer than Lewis might need anticipated. Nevertheless it was as a result of he needed to point out off his wrestling earlier within the combat earlier than heeding his nook’s request and ending the job on the 49-second mark of the third spherical. The knockout was Lewis’ fifteenth within the UFC and put him two forward of Frank Mir (13) with Stipe Miocic (9) UFC heavyweights. Lewis is the one lively heavyweight within the high 10 in knockout finishes.
Nicknamed “The Black Beast,” Lewis (28-12 MMA, 19-10 UFC) entered the combat ranked No. 12 by the UFC within the heavyweight division and had gone 2-5 over his previous seven fights. The knockout of Nascimento acquired him again into the successful column after a November 2023 loss to Jailton Almeida.
Lewis clubbed Nascimento (11-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) with a proper hand and went for an early takedown, one thing he promised to do throughout combat week. Lewis surprised his opponent with a leg journey, however the Brazilian popped again as much as his ft. After the 2 disengaged, Lewis tried a swap kick and a mix, however Nascimento crowded his house and secured a takedown of his personal.
With a wholesome mixture of punches and quick elbows, Nascimento ultimately labored his approach to a full mount, however Lewis managed to brush and ended up in half guard to shut the opening spherical.
Lewis briefly opted out of wrestling within the second spherical and returned to his putting roots, clubbing Nascimento within the opening minute with rights and lefts. Nascimento acquired a maintain of Lewis to decelerate the putting however ate an uppercut on the within. One other salvo from Lewis rattled the Brazilian, however he managed to remain upright. Nevertheless, an ill-fated leg journey try by Lewis noticed Nascimento take his again with simply over a minute left within the spherical.
Quite than fish for a choke, Nascimento took a breath and maneuvered his manner into half guard to finish the spherical with ground-and-pound.
Lewis’ nook had seen sufficient and begged him to get the job achieved together with his putting. Lewis obliged and entered the third spherical centered on the knockout. Simply seconds into the spherical, Lewis leveled Nascimento with a proper hand that turned the Brazilian’s legs into spaghetti. Just a few extra follow-up strikes despatched Nascimento to the canvas and the stamp on the win got here shortly after with some depraved ground-and-pound.