What’s Next For Derrick Lewis?

Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone with UFC 265 blowing the roof off the Toyota Center last Saturday night (Aug. 7, 2021) in Houston, Texas. Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds including Pedro Munhoz, who was outclassed by Jose Aldo in a thrilling Bantamweight affair (recap here).

And Michael Chiesa, who was choked out by Vicente Luque in the very first round, ending his four fight win streak. But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Derrick Lewis.

After “Black Beast” came up short in his first bid to win the UFC Heavyweight title against Daniel Cormier at UFC 230 three years ago, he worked his way back up the ladder by going 4-1 to earn another shot at winning gold, albeit with an interim tag attached.

Once fight night came, though, the “Black Beast” fight fans have grown to love inside the cage was nowhere to be seen. While he did try to pop off some offense, Ciryl Gane was simply too technical, too good to expose himself to one of Lewis’s bombs.

In the end, the heavy-hitting Frenchman found his groove and had his way with his foe, especially with well-placed low kicks, slowing down the big man long enough to time his shots and eventually score a third round technical knockout (TKO) win.

It’s a tough pill to swallow for Lewis, a fan-favorite who admittedly has never been too preoccupied with becoming UFC champion. While all he’s ever wanted to do was hit people and collect paychecks — he’s made a fine career for himself doing just that, even getting a win over the current 265-pound champion, Francis Ngannou — losing in your hometown is never fun.

Lewis can go on and continue his career as one of the hardest-hitting big men around who can still knock out the best of them at any given moment. And because of that, he will always lurk around the Top 5. But it seems having one-punch knockout power simply isn’t enough to break through and take out the technical big man that has more than one weapon in his tool kit. He can still rack up wins in a hurry but trying to convince UFC to give him another title fight after two failed attempts won’t be an easy task.

There are still several big men he has yet to face inside the Octagon. Among them is Stipe Miocic, the man I believe is a perfect fit for his next fight. Miocic is of course coming off a knockout loss to Ngannou, but he is still the No. 1 ranked big man in the land while Lewis is right behind him at No. 2.

Dana White has gone on record to say that Miocic has accepted a fight against Jon Jones, but “Bones” doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to take that fight since he has his eyes on an immediate title shot. which he can get if he wants.

It behooves Miocic to take this fight if offered or risk sitting on the sidelines even longer to see how Ngannou vs Gane plays out, and then see if Jones decides to face the winner or not. The smart play would be to face Lewis…right?