Derrick Lewis sent a reminder to the heavyweight division that he's still a viable threat with an emphatic second-round TKO of Aleksei Oleinik in the main event of UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday.
"The Black Beast" picked up his third consecutive win and his first knockout in nearly two years. Perhaps more important is the fact that Lewis has showed admirable determination to slim down and enter each fight in better shape than the last.
Saturday night had Lewis roaring out of his corner and landing some solid strikes, but Oleinik weathered the storm, secured a takedown and attempted a submission. Lewis briefly escaped and landed some hard punches before Olenik again sought a scarf hold submission to no avail.
Recognizing that he wanted no parts of Oleinik's vaunted ground game, Lewis came flying out of the corner in the second round with a flying knee and followed it with a right hand that sent Oleinik to the canvas. This time, Lewis wasn't going to give his foe the opportunity to think and ransacked Oleinik's face with a barrage of punches until referee Herb Dean stopped the fight.
Lewis now owns the most knockouts in the history of the UFC heavyweight division, but will now turn his attention to next week's title fight between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier.
In the co-main event, Chris Weidman returned to the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Omari Ahkmedov.
After beginning his career with 13 straight wins, a middleweight championship and a pair of victories over the then-indestructible Anderson Silva, Weidman fell off the proverbial cliff and went 1-5 with all five losses coming by way of knockout. There were questions regarding whether it was time for Weidman to call it a career, and "The All American" lived to fight another day by overcoming exhaustion and dominating the final frame of an even fight.
After a first round where Weidman controlled much of the frame with his wrestling, Akhmedov immediately recognized that his opponent's gas tank was spent entering the second round. Weidman failed on several takedown attempts, and Akhmedov took advantage by landing several strikes and securing a pair of takedowns to even things up heading into the final round.
Weidman summoned just enough strength in the final round to muster up a takedown and control Ahkmedov. The former champion threatened an arm triangle on several occasions, but Ahkmedov had just enough energy to fend off the submission attempts. Still, Weidman remained in control and found his way back into the win column for the first time since 2017 with scores of 29-27, 29-27 and 29-28.
UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik fight card results
Main card
- Derrick Lewis def. Aleksei Oleinik via second-round TKO (:21)
- Chris Weidman def. Omari Akhmedov (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
- Darren Stewart def. Maki Pitolo via first-round submission (3:41)
- Yana Kunitskaya def. Julija Stoliarenko via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
- Beneil Dariush def. Scott Holtzman via first-round TKO (4:39)
Preliminary card
- Tim Means def. Laureano Staropoli via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Kevin Holland def. Joaquin Buckley via. third-round TKO (:32)
- Nasrat Haqparast def. Alex Munoz via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Andrew Sanchez def. Wellington Turman via first-round TKO (4:14)
- Gavin Tucker def. Justin Jaynes via third-round submission (1:43)
- Youssef Zalal def. Peter Barrett via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
- Irwin Rivera def. Ali Qaisi via unanimous decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)