Derrick Lewis picked up the biggest win of his career on Sunday when he KO’d Travis Browne. At 32 years of age, he’s actually one of the younger ranked heavyweights. The big boys are in desperate need of talent; Lewis’s victory means he’s just a few fights removed from a potential title shot. Here is the short list of fighters I can see becoming potential contenders in the shallow heavyweight division:
Derrick Lewis
“The Black Beast” fights with a refined type of savagery. He’s not the prettiest or most technical fighter on the roster, but he proves time and time again that you don’t have to be. You only need to connect fist to face.
In Lewis’s fights, he often attempts to get into punching range where he can uncork flurries of haymakers. It’s predictable, but very hard to stop. Due to his size and suprising athletic ability, Lewis often finds himself on top during grappling transitions. Hardly anyone has been able to survive Lewis’s ground and pound attacks.
His grappling has improved a lot too. Against Roy Nelson, Lewis was able to get off the bottom several times even with Nelson’s large frame resting on top. He rarely uses actual jiu-jitsu technique – just brute force, and it works beautifully.
So far, Lewis’s only two losses have been to Matt Mitrione and Shawn Jordan. These two were able to catch him at range and finish him with strikes. Travis Browne was doing a good job at keeping Lewis at range with his front kicks to the body, but once Lewis decided to press forward Browne was unable to stop the aggression.
With a 6-fight win streak to his credit, it’s likely we’ll see Lewis get within title contention if he wins his next fight.
Francis Ngannou
Of course, the other big named heavyweight up-and-comer is Francis Ngannou. The Frenchman just recently KO’d Andrei Arlovski in his last bout. He’s now 5-0 in the UFC.
While Lewis’s fighting style may look rough and rigid, Ngannou moves with elegance and smoothness. He’ll often keep his freakishly long limbs down by his hips, bait an attack, and slip and counter. This type of style is rare among heavyweights, but Ngannou has been ultra-effective at landing powerful blows from unexpected angles. We saw this in Ngannou’s KO over Arlovski.
The power that Ngannou strikes with is similar to Lewis’s as well. When he touches guys, they often fall. But what Ngannou has over Lewis is the ability to strike at distance, and also a developing submission game. Against Anthony Hamilton, Ngannou ripped a kimura out of nowhere and used it to finish Hamilton just a couple minutes into their fight.
Ngannou is still developing, but his raw athleticism, mind-boggling dimensions, and unpredictability make him a tough customer for anyone in the heavyweight division.
Ruslan Magomedov
Many may have forgotten about “Leopard,” but he’ll likely be on our radar in the future. Unfortunately, he was suspended by USADA in September, 2016. It’s still unclear when he’ll be back, but the standard two-year suspension would keep him out of action until September, 2018. The Dagestan-Russian is 3-0 in the UFC.
Based on his three UFC wins, which all came by decision, we can see that Magomedov is perhaps one of the most skilled strikers in the division. He’s one of the few heavyweights who incorporates lots of kicks (especially head kicks), and he moves with the technical efficiency that Dagestan teammate Rashid Magomedov does. I do not believe they are related though.
Magomedov’s best win so far is Shawn Jordan. Magomedov was able to thwart Jordan’s wrestling attempts, and decsively outstrike him on the feet.
He’s still developing and very young (by heavyweight standards), but he possesses a very complete overall game. We have yet to see him face an elite heavyweight, but I think in time he’ll make his way up the rankings.
Next Fights for Contenders
Right now, the UFC’s heavyweight is pretty booked up. We have Stipe Miocic vs Junior dos Santos II for the heavyweight title. Top contender Fabricio Werdum is booked against Ben Rothwell. Meanwhile, Cain Velasquez is still recovering, but should be ready to go soon. There aren’t a whole lot of options for these contenders:
Derrick Lewis – He’s gunning for the winner of Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt. I can definitely see that, but Stefan Struve is another option (although it may be a bit of a step back).
Francis Ngannou – I can also see the winner of Overeem/Hunt being his next opponent. He’s essentially in the same spot as Lewis. For the sake of the heavyweight division’s future – Lewis and Ngannou should stay separated.
Ruslan Magomedov – When he returns, he’ll likely face an unranked opponent just to build his record and get back into the swing of things. But don’t be surprised if he ends up climbing the ranks!
