LAS VEGAS • Underdog Derrick Lewis delivered a fight-ending uppercut to Curtis Blaydes in the second round on Saturday for a stunning upset in the main event at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.
The 36-year-old connected on just seven total strikes - compared to 28 for Blaydes - but he made the last one count, earning the knockout 1 minute and 26 seconds into the second round to improve to 25-7.
Fellow American Blaydes, who is six years younger, was unconscious as he hit the mat.
"That was the only punch I was waiting for the entire fight," Lewis said. "I knew he was gonna come in... That's all I was waiting for. I wasn't worried about throwing a one-two, a jab or anything."
Blaydes (14-3, one no contest) came into the bout with a Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight-record 59 takedowns but did not land one against his opponent.
Lewis, on the other hand, came into the bout with the most knockouts in UFC heavyweight history (11) and added another for his fourth straight win.
In doing so, he also snapped Blaydes' four-bout winning streak.
Earlier, Russia's Yana Kunitskaya was a unanimous winner over Brazil's Ketlen Vieira in their women's bantamweight bout.
Kunitskaya improved to 14-5 after landing 215 total strikes while Vieira dropped to 11-2.
Darrick Minner was a unanimous winner over fellow American Charles Rosa in their featherweight fight, while American Chris Daukaus was a technical knockout winner over Russia's Aleksei Oleinik, earning the win via punches 1min 55sec into the first round in their heavyweight bout.
Britain's Tom Aspinall forced Belarusian Andrei Arlovski into submission with a rear naked choke at 1:09 of the second round in their heavyweight bout.
REUTERS
