Derrick Lewis is making a case for why he should be the next to face UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. The UFC’s top knockout artist notched his 16th KO in the main event at UFC Nashville on Saturday, quickly ending the fight with a 35-second knockout over Teixeira, handing the Brazilian his first professional defeat.
Currently ranked ninth in the heavyweight division and having won three of his last four fights, Lewis is aiming for a third title shot against the new, undisputed champion Tom Aspinall. While Lewis’s record in title fights is 0-2 and there are higher-ranked contenders like #1 Ciryl Gane and #5 Jailton Almeida ahead of him, Lewis carries significant name recognition as the UFC’s knockout king.
MMA analyst Alain Juvan believes Lewis has greater star power than Ciryl Gane and is likely to fight Aspinall next due to this. Juvan emphasized Lewis’s popularity and knockout potential, calling him a big name with strong fan support, making the matchup highly marketable.
Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman concurs with the idea of Lewis facing Aspinall, suggesting that since a fight between Aspinall and Jon Jones might take a year to happen, Aspinall vs. Lewis is a fight fans want to see now. Weidman adds that Lewis’s knockout ability and Aspinall’s well-rounded skills would make for an exciting contest while setting the stage for the future Aspinall vs. Jones showdown.
Fan Take: This potential matchup between Tom Aspinall and Derrick Lewis is huge for UFC fans because it pits a rising champion against a legendary knockout artist, creating an entertaining stylistic clash. It also keeps the heavyweight division dynamic and exciting while we await the much-anticipated fight involving Jon Jones, which could dominate the sport’s landscape later.
