The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return from a rare off week was initially slated for South Korea. However, when an injury to headliner Chan Sung Jung scuttled those plans, the promotion pivoted to another option: another show at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The new UFC Fight Night 218 main event on Saturday sees a rebooking of heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Sergey Spivak from their canceled fight in November. Beyond that, there are some solid fights involving Asian talent. The long-awaited return of Doo Ho Choi provides the most intrigue, though the debut of Japanese welterweight prospect Yusaku Kinoshita should also be something to watch.
Heavyweights
#7 HW | Derrick Lewis (26-10, 17-8 UFC) vs. #12 HW | Sergey Spivak (15-3, 6-3 UFC)ODDS: Spivak (-230), Lewis (+195)
Is Lewis nearing the end? Lewis gained some attention almost immediately upon his UFC debut with some impressive knockouts, but quick losses to Matt Mitrione and Shawn Jordan made it easy to write “The Black Beast” off as a glass cannon that had been figured out. But then Lewis learned the gift of patience, and from there his career never looked back. With his massive size, surprising athleticism and enough durability to get by, Lewis would essentially lay back and wait for the opportunity to end the fight in one blow. Sometimes the fight was over immediately, but just as often opponents would tire themselves out first, whether by trying to out-wrestle and control such a massive opponent or simply trying to stay away from such a fearsome force. It is a combination of factors that would not really work anywhere other than heavyweight, but a memorable 2018 win over Alexander Volkov—remembered for both Lewis’ late comeback and charismatically crass post-fight interview—marked Lewis’ ninth win in ten fights and early him a title shot at Daniel Cormier shortly thereafter. That title challenge was a clear loss that exposed a lot of Lewis’ flaws, but from there he was able to hang around the fringes of the title picture as a relevant heavyweight whose popularity also made him one of the UFC’s go-to performers for main events and prominent cards. A knockout win over Curtis Blaydes in February of last year set Lewis up for an interim title fight against Ciryl Gane, but it looks like a bit of a last hurrah in retrospect. Lewis looked absolutely terrible before getting knocked out by Gane, and while he rebounded with a win over Chris Daukaus to close out 2021, 2022 saw Lewis come out of the losing end in straightforward brawls against Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich. This could be a bit of Lewis’ luck over the years correcting itself in a division as unpredictable as heavyweight, or this could be a sign that he is finally slowing down to the point of ineffectiveness as he closes in on 38 years old. At any rate, this pairing against Spivak should answer a lot of questions.
Good on Spivak for working his way up to a main event slot, since the Moldovan’s success was far from guaranteed. “The Polar Bear” was an interesting prospect upon his 2019 debut, owing to a series of wrestling-heavy wins he had against a series of journeymen prior to the UFC, but his first trip to the Octagon saw him get blasted by Walt Harris in just 50 seconds. Spivak’s next booking came against Tuivasa in Australia, so it was clear where he had been slotted by the UFC. Rather than get run over by a marketable talent in need of a win, Spivak pulled off the huge upset, leaning on his wrestling to score a second-round submission and possibly save his job. From there, Spivak has won five of his last seven and served as a clear gatekeeper to the top ten or so at heavyweight. He can get stalled out against a better wrestler or taken apart by some of the more dynamic strikers in the division, but he has succeeded in drowning an impressive number of opponents at an increasingly high level. The Spivak of 2019 likely would not have been able to bully a massive athlete like Greg Hardy or a steady fringe contender like Augusto Sakai. It remains unclear if it is yet enough to get by even this version of Lewis, however. As recently as 2021, this would have been an easy pick for Lewis. Faced with a wrestler that has little in the way of knockout power, Lewis has almost always found a way to tire that type of opponent out and stage a late comeback. Again, those margins are getting increasingly thin with Lewis looking easier to hurt and with Spivak discovering some effective ground-and-pound to end his wins before the final horn. Lewis is still big and still powerful so he gets the benefit of the doubt, albeit with little confidence. The pick is Lewis via third-round stoppage.
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Lewis vs. Spivak
Jung vs. Clark
Tybura vs. Ivanov
Choi vs. Nelson
Kinoshita vs. Fugitt
The Prelims