Cormier to defend Heavyweight title
By Bonginkosi Nkosi
On Sunday 4 November, two-division champion Daniel “DC” Cormier puts his Heavyweight title on the line against knockout specialist Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis in New York City’s Madison Square Garden for UFC 230.
Light Heavyweight champion DC made history in his latest encounter, knocking out Stipe Miocic in the very first round for the Heavyweight title. The last person to hold two titles simultaneously in the UFC was Conor McGregor. Interestingly, DC is now 14-0 in the heavyweight division and is highly unlikely to lose against Lewis on Sunday, and such is reflected on the betting, trading as the 1-8 hotpot favourite.
Lewis has a lot of advantages in this event – he is six years younger, taller, has a longer reach and has the most knockouts in UFC history. Experience is also on his side and he’s never been knocked out, but fights are won in the Octagon and not on paper.
My main concern is the fact he has stamina issues, and this was exposed when he fought Alexander Volkov. He was clearly losing until he landed that devastating right punch in the final round, the “if” punch.
In fact, even he admitted this was true in his post-fight interview, stating: “I need to do a lot of cardio. I’m not trying to fight for the title right now. I’m not,” he said. “I need to work on my gas tank.”
I fear he may have taken this fight way too early. I doubt he will be able to keep up with DC, who I would argue is probably technically superior in every single martial arts discipline. Lewis is going to be surprised by DC’s speed. He covers so much ground in fights, and when he lands on an opponent’s chin, they drop.
The 39-year-old is relentless, and consistently pursues rivals, denying them time to rest and that’s exhausting – no rival has been able to keep up. DC fights to win every single round, and I expect a similar performance come Sunday.
“I think I can beat everybody,” he said on UFC.com. “I’ve watched Derrick fight and I know he’s got a ton of heart but that can only take you so far. You need so much more and I feel I have that much more.”