The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 146: Lewis vs. Dos Santos
After a huge show last weekend in the form of UFC 235, the promotion’s debut in the state of Kansas last night was largely flying under the radar. In the end, the show turned out to be pretty decent – an ultra-quick pace (at least on the UK broadcast) helped a lot as did some fun finishes later in the night.
While the prelim card wasn’t up to much this time, it was never really supposed to be – this was a bit of a throwaway Fight Night show after all. Thankfully, the top few fights delivered, making the show well worth watching.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC Fight Night 146: Lewis vs. Dos Santos.
#1 Best: Heavyweight is great at times
Nobody was really sure what to expect from the main event between Junior Dos Santos and Derrick Lewis, but the Heavyweight contenders delivered big time. The stylistic match always favoured Dos Santos – as I suggested in my predictions article earlier in the week – and in the end ‘Cigano’ came out on top following a barrage of punches in the second round. It wasn’t plain sailing, though.
Lewis looked to be in slightly better shape than he was for his most recent fights, and came out more aggressively too, throwing a bunch of jumping kicks and winging shots at the Brazilian. But it was telling that both times that Lewis landed and hurt JDS were set up by Lewis actually being hurt himself.
A spinning back kick to the body late in the first round had ‘The Black Beast’ doubled over, but when JDS ran in to seal the deal, it appeared that Lewis was playing possum as he immediately stunned the Brazilian with a big right hand. However, it turned out that there was no gamesmanship from Lewis – in a bizarre visual he remained doubled over for the remainder of the round, in survival mode as JDS looked for a way to finish him off.
In the second round he found it – Lewis seemed preoccupied with protecting his body, took a huge right hand to the temple, and moments later it was over. The win should put Dos Santos in line for at least a title eliminator in his next fight, and I don’t think Lewis loses a lot as he remains one of the best fighters to watch in the division. This main event delivered in spades.