I think seeing him against Volkov made Gane appear shorter/smaller than what I thought in reality, but he looked big in there next to Lewis.
Also just caught up on the fights I missed and Green vs Fiziev is the type of fight that happens in a blue moon. That 30-27 score is atrocious.
Gane v Francis is going to be so good so I fully expect the UFC to mess it up and slot Stipe in there again or some shit.
at least Lewis can just resign himself to being a gatekeeper for the division and nothing more like he always was
He has the power to knock anybody out; he just needs to work on his mental state of mind, to learn how to fight in any situation, to not let anything outside the octagon affect how he fights inside the octagon, as that was his main issue on Saturday. If he would have fought like he did against Blaydes, I think he would have easily finished Gane
He also just lost to the superior fighter. There’s a reason he was the underdog. outside of his power, Lewis is very average.
Maybe I'm misremembering but I feel like his performance against blaydes is even overrated. He threw the same punch over and over again but Curtis still just dove right into it. I could just be a hater right now though. I just remember feeling really embarrassed for Blaydes afterwards because it seemed like a stupid mistake/low fight iq on his part rather than an impressive KO by Lewis at the time.
I like watching the guy fight a lot and I like seeing him win but I just don't think he has what it really takes to win a title rn
This was kind of it, but I think Lewis wasn't really biting on his feints which was giving him trouble when trying to time his entry. JDS had the same strategy of spamming the uppercut, but he was biting every time Curtis faked the shot. Eventually he figured out he could draw out the uppercut and counter with an overhand when JDS left himself open. Lewis decided to do the same thing except he didn't budge no matter what Curtis did lol. Blaydes just said "Fuck it, I'll just dive in." The guy has an impressive resume of KOs, but do think he's pretty one-dimensional. That one thing has served him well but it will only carry him so far.
Yeah, I was actually impressed in Lewis' game plan against Blaydes. Didn't bite on anything, knew Curtis would revert to his wrestling and then punched his lights out. Can't knock that, dude knows what he's good at. If Francis beats Gane and Lewis beats someone like Stipe he gets a rematch for the title, even if that first fight was garbage. Gate keepers at heavyweight are Arlovski and Rothwell, Lewis while one dimensional, is still a rung above those guys.
I think if Francis wins 1 or 2 more times, then Dana might entertain the idea of giving Jon Francis as his 1st heavyweight, but I can still see Dana demanding he do a lower fight first before giving him Francis
Once one of my favorite fighters and sad to see him go, but it’s understandable after that last injury.