UFC 229 is now available on Amazon Prime.
Expect a war when the two top heavyweights collide at the T-Mobile Arena this weekend. Ahead of their highly awaited scuffle, here are some figures that have catapulted “The Black Beast” near the highest level of the division.
17: Years old when he started to train boxing. Lewis was preparing for his first amateur fight when the gym he was training at closed down unexpectedly. Later on, he continued boxing under an all-time great in George Foreman.
2: Rounds of professional MMA was all he needed to realize what he truly wanted. While he had studied boxing, his dominant performance at a regional event in Texas had him gravitating towards MMA.
3: Full rounds with future UFC fighter Shawn Jordan in Lewis's second fight. Unfortunately, Lewis suffered a unanimous decision loss. They would meet again years later in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and this time, Lewis was stopped.
3: Straight wins after his first loss to Jordan. Then, he was signed by Bellator MMA and was supposed to fight Thiago Santos, but the Brazilian pulled out due to an injury. He ended up facing and losing to Tony Johnson at Bellator 46.
3: Fights in Legacy Fighting Championship. He captured the heavyweight title by defeating another future UFC fighter in Jared Rosholt and defended it successfully from Ricky Shivers.
2: Knockout wins to start his UFC career. He TKOd Jack May at UFC on Fox 11 and starched Guto Inocente at “The Ultimate Fighter” 19 Finale.
41: Seconds lasted in his first UFC loss. Matt Mitrione dropped Lewis with a right and followed it up with a few more punches to get the referee stoppage in the first round.
3: Losses in the UFC. Apart from Mitrione and Jordan, he also bowed to Mark Hunt in the main event of UFC Fight Night 110.
5: Takedowns scored in the UFC so far. Lewis is so effective standing up that he doesn’t feel the need to take his opponents to the ground. Even on occasions when his nemesis got the better of him in the wrestling department (as with Roy Nelson and Viktor Pesta), he still won because of his furious striking.
17: Victories by knockout. Some of the unlucky ones who have tasted the power of his fists are Gabriel Gonzaga, Travis Browne and Marcin Tybura.
1: Victory by submission. Lewis showed some ground prowess early in his career when he hit an armbar on Rakim Cleveland at an event called Worldwide Gladiator. This, however, remains the only submission win on his résumé.
2: Victories by decision. In all 20 of his wins, Lewis went the distance only twice, and these were with Nelson at UFC Fight Night 90 and Francis Ngannou at UFC 226.
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