LEWIS VS OLEINIK – Review

• Saturday’s main event saw Derrick Lewis showcase his impressive skills once again as he defeated Aleksei Oleinik by TKO in the second round.
  • Being critical of himself Lewis said: “I believe I have improved a lot, but I’m still not where I need to be. I’m still not really comfortable where I need to be fighting at. That’s why I said I need to lose at least 15, 20 more pounds, then come back in and I’m going to be a problem.

He did exactly what we thought he would do. He fought exactly like we thought he would, so it worked in my favour. I just knew that I had to put pressure on him, because of the way he fights, he doesn’t really move his head, so anything that I really threw at him was going to land. Everything worked just the way we talked about.

Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll be 245, 250 lb. If I get there, I’ll be happy. And I plan to fight again maybe in December, and I have to be 245, 250 lb. If I get there and dominate whoever my next opponent is, then I believe I’ll be next for the title.”

• In the co-main event, returning former champion Chris Weidman defeated Omari Akhmedov in the middleweight division by unanimous decision.
  • After grinding out a victory, Weidman commented: “That wasn’t my favourite fight at all for myself, but I got the win. There’s a lot that goes into it for me and my family, it’s just good to get it done with. I’m super grateful that the UFC is allowing us to work and put on a show for everybody. I know so many people out there that really want to start working and they can’t, so I’m just super grateful to be in the position that I am at to do something that I love to do and to provide for my family.

It feels good. I feel like I’m restarting my career and I’m really grateful to have that opportunity. I feel refreshed and renewed. I’m super excited about the future.”

• Winning Performance of the Night honours, London’s Darren Stewart defeated Maki Pitolo by submission in the first round.
  • Happy to secure the victory, Stewart said: “It’s been crazy. I can’t wait to see the back of this year. A lot is going on. Friends have died, people have died from Covid, fights not happening, change in opponents, I’ve lost here and there… If I don’t fight again until the end of this year, at least I can say I’ve had a good win, a finish. My first submission.

It means a lot to me. People say I’m a striker, ‘take Darren down’, ‘Darren can’t grapple’… I’ve been working on my grappling, but no one has seen it yet. I’m happy I finally got to show it to the world. Don’t sleep on me, I can tap you out. My goal in my career until the end of the year is get another one in and just keep going, keep improving. It’s what I’ve been doing. If I’m off, I don’t have a fight, just keep improving, keep being the best and doing the best I can, do myself justice.

I hope I proved a lot to the people. Do not sleep on me. I’ve been working. When the lockdown happened, I was in my house training, doing zoom calls with my conditioning coach. As things got a little bit easier, I was going to the park with my training mates, doing BJJ in the grass, hardcore stuff. I’ve been training for the whole lockdown. The only reason I couldn’t fight earlier was just my weight, but I’ve been training. The message is out to the world: don’t sleep on me, I’ll get you.”