St. Louis hosted Saturday’s UFC occasion on the Enterprise Heart. A heavyweight conflict between two-time title challenger Derrick Lewis and fifteenth-ranked Rodrigo Nascimento headlined the battle card.
Lewis entered the bout coming off a choice loss to Jailton Almeida in his final battle again in November. Lewis had misplaced 4 of his final 5 bouts and was in determined want of a win to remain related within the division. Nascimento entered the battle driving a three-fight profitable streak and eight years youthful than 39-year-old Lewis.
Lewis, how holds the file for probably the most knockouts in UFC historical past, got here out aggressive. He tried a flying knee to begin the battle and clinched. He tripped Nascimento to the canvas however Nascimento rapidly bought to his ft. The 2 remained within the clinch alongside the cage. Nascimento delivered knees to the physique and turned Lewis. They separated and Lewis missed with a head kick. He landed a proper hand. They clinched and Lewis linked with proper arms. Nascimento took Lewis down with two minutes remaining within the spherical.
Nascimento labored in Lewis’ half guard. He delivered quick proper arms earlier than going to the physique with lefts. Nascimento mounted Lewis and Lewis escaped and gained high place. The spherical ended with Lewis on high and Nascimento holding on.
Nascimento opened the second spherical with a leg kick. Lewis appeared to counter with a proper hand but it surely was largely blocked. They exchanged proper arms and Lewis powered ahead punching his method into the clinch. They reversed place alongside the cage just a few occasions earlier than Lewis tried to toss Nascimento inflicting a separation. Nascimento returned to the clinch. Lewis separated and unloaded proper arms. Nascimento lined and clinched.
Lewis linked with a proper hand with two minutes left on the clock. He landed an enormous elbow on the within. Lewis loaded up with proper arms. Lewis appeared to have tripped and Nascimento rapidly took his again with 90 seconds remaining. Lewis managed an arm and Nascimento spun and resulted in half guard. He delivered a heavy elbow. The shut spherical ended with Nascimento on high.
The tempo slowed at the beginning of the third spherical. Lewis delivered a knee to the physique. Nascimento landed a proper hand as Lewis moved into the pocket. Lewis fired again and staggered Nascimento with a proper hand knocking him down. The referee stepped in after a few extra pictures. The official time of the end was 0:49 of the third spherical.
After the win, Lewis took off his battle shorts and took out his cup. With the knockout win, Lewis added to his UFC file knockout victories. 15 occasions he is left his opponent separated from consciousness.
The shorts are offWe repeat, the shorts are OFF‼️#UFCStLouis | @TheBeast_UFC pic.twitter.com/bvSkQCdxq6
— UFC (@ufc) Might 12, 2024
