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It was Spivak who proved to be the superior fighter, as he dominated Lewis from the outset. With a display of striking precision and grappling dominance, “The Polar Bear” took control of the fight and never let go. The bout was one-sided, with Lewis unable to mount any sort of comeback, and it was all over in a matter of minutes.
It’s clear that Spivak has now earned himself a shot at the top five, and fans are eager to see how he will fare against the division’s elite. But before we look ahead, let’s take a moment to reflect on this incredible performance and see how Spivak was able to dominate Lewis so thoroughly. It’s time for Aftermath, and we’re diving in!
Derrick Lewis: Is Retirement on the Horizon?
Technical analysis is always a pain when it comes to Lewis. He’s hardly a tactician and relies almost exclusively on his power to win him fights. He stands with legs locked, hands in odd places, and swings for the fences. Lewis is a better example of what not to do in a fight than of how to win. Recently, Lewis has been on the wrong side of some one-sided ass-whoopins by the likes of Tai Tuivasa, Sergei Pavlovich and now Spivak. This is the first time he’s been handed three straight losses in his 37-fight career. Lewis, who turns 38 this week, isn’t a young fighter by any means, but at heavyweight “high level” fights and titles can still be won. Lewis seems to be out of touch with what modern heavyweight MMA truly is, though.
He’s made his money and has successful businesses outside of fighting. It’s not as if Lewis is hurting. He’s getting in the cage and taking unnecessary beatings and, to be honest, he needs to retire before he goes the way of the fighters who were great in the UFC but never won a title. Donald Cerrone, Tony Ferguson and others have been to the big dance then started taking massive damage later in their careers.
The true question is whether Lewis should be fighting anymore. He’s clearly not good enough to compete at a high level. Sure, he’s popular. Sure, he can produce some highlights. But will it benefit him? At this point, I think the damage he’d take would outweigh the extra paychecks. Maybe we can get a farewell fight in Houston that he can actually win?
Sergey Spivak: Welcome to the Elite
Spivak couldn’t have had a better showing at “UFC Vegas 68.” His bludgeoning of Lewis was pure perfection, holding him to zero punches landed on three attempts. That’s it. His performance was so solid that we had nothing to talk about in terms of an analytical view of Lewis’ performance. Bravo, Sergey. That was a masterpiece.
In this week's edition of Beforemath, we talked about the importance of Spivak avoiding the big shots, specifically the rear uppercut that Lewis murked Blaydes with. The premise was simple: Shoot to Lewis' power hand and he's going to throw that rear uppercut and look to land a mega-punch. We also looked at Spivak shooting a takedown on Greg Hardy and shooting into the power hand. That was a giant red flag and one that Spivak and his team worked on for this fight, although it's not quite apparent.
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In fact, (1) Derrick Lewis threw the exact same punch against Spivak that he did with Blaydes and with Daniel Cormier. It’s his go-to punch for anyone shooting a takedown. Spivak did well to avoid that. You’ll also notice that, as mentioned in Beforemath, Lewis did not punch across his body into Spivak. He punched straight on and that allowed Spivak to get in on the takedown and subsequent body lock. On the initial takedown, (2) Spivak managed to get in on an attempt, albeit sloppy and triggered by the uppercut from Lewis, and his head was properly to the right side which is to the lead hand of Lewis.
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To get the fight to the ground for the first time, Spivak had to rely on chain wrestling. It’s rarely on the first attempt that Spivak gets a takedown and the Lewis fight was no exception. (1) After the uppercut, Spivak kept his arm over Lewis and planned on the hip toss from the moment the first takedown failed. To set this up, he would also throw his right leg across Lewis for the leverage point. (2) Spivak then would bite down on the head and pull Lewis over the leg. This works like a charm as (3) Spivak gets a thunderous takedown that rocked the Apex.
Once Spivak gets on you, he’s like a wet blanket. He’s hard to get off of you and he’s suffocating. One thing that Spivak does very, very well is to be aware when a position is lost and be proactive in getting to the next position for another takedown or mat return. This was the story of the whole fight—if you want to call that a fight. Spivak takes Lewis down, Lewis thinks he’s getting up and Spivak takes him back down.
In the end, it was the relentless pressure that did Lewis in and that was completely the doing of Spivak. He managed to break Lewis’ will and when he got the arm-triangle, the tap was the one of a broken man who knew that he was never in this fight to begin with. The arm-triangle was set up with Spivak’s insistence on keeping the seatbelt grip and Lewis turning into Spivak with his back flat. But who can blame him? Lewis was beaten.
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The arm-triangle was set up as Spivak rode Lewis. (1) Spivak kept the seatbelt and had the arm triangle set up here. (2) Lewis would turn to Spivak and end up flat on his back, a death sentence against Spivak. Spivak would pick up on this and apply pressure to keep Lewis on his back and quickly get his arm behind the head of Lewis and to his own hand. (3) With the arm behind Lewis and Lewis having his arm straight up, the arm triangle is in and Spivak has Lewis dead to rights. (4) There is no escape for Lewis, and he’s forced to tap, giving the flawless victory to Spivak.
So, what’s next for Spivak? With his win over the No. 7 heavyweight, he will likely come in around eight in the rankings and he will get the opportunity to fight up. Tai Tuivasa is an option, but Tuivasa will have to take some time off with the damage he’s taken in his past couple fights. Blaydes is a fun one to see who the better wrestler is, as is Alexander Volkov. One thing is for sure, Spivak is one of the best heavyweights in the world and he’s got a bright future ahead.
Be sure to tune in to Beforemath this week as we get a gem to break down. Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev are going head-to-head in the first ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 pound-for-pound fight in UFC history!