Underdog Derrick Lewis delivered an uppercut to Curtis Blaydes on Saturday night in the second round to end the fight for a stunning surprise at the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.
Lewis only scored seven hits in total – compared to 28 for Blaydes – but he made the last count and earned the KO / TKO at 1:26 of the second round to improve to 25-7.
Blaydes was unconscious when he hit the mat.
“That was the only blow I was waiting for the entire fight,” said Lewis. ‘I knew he was coming in. … That was all I was waiting for. I wasn’t worried about throwing a one-two punch, a shot or anything. “
Blaydes (14-3, 1 NC) entered the fight with a UFC heavyweight record of 59 takedowns, but landed none against Lewis.
Lewis, on the other hand, got into the fight with the most knockouts in UFC heavyweight history, adding one more for his fourth straight win. By doing this, Lewis broke Blaydes’ four-win streak.
In previous action, Yana Kunitskaya was a unanimous winner of Ketlen Vieira in their women’s bantamweight competition. Kunitskaya achieved 29-28 wins across the board after 215 total attacks.
Darrick Minner was a unanimous winner over Charles Rosa in their featherweight bout.
Chris Daukaus was a KO / TKO winner of Aleksei Oleinik and took the punch victory at 1:55 of the first round in their heavyweight bout.
Phillip Hawes was the winner of a majority decision by Nassourdine Imavov, 29-28, 29-28, 28-28 in their middleweight bout.
Tom Aspinall forced Andrei Arlovski into submission with a naked choke in the back at 1:09 of the second round in their heavyweight bout.