What a card to finish the year. 2021 was a great year for the UFC and this card capped off the year in a really nice way. The main event ended rather abruptly with Derrick Lewis cashing as the underdog by knocking out Chris Daukaus with a flurry of punches in the latter half of the first round. This fight kind of went how we thought it would, except Lewis was way more aggressive this time than he was in his last fight against Cyril Gane. In that fight he was very tentative and waited for Gane to come to him in hopes to land his big right hand. This time, Lewis was moving forward and was able to force Daukaus up against the cage where he forced Daukaus to attempt to swing his way out of it. Daukaus did a better job than most do and actually survived the initial exchange. He got off the fence and it was in a secondary clinch exchange that he first got clipped. This forced him to back up against the cage again where he covered up before ultimately being dropped and finished with a couple of strong right hands from Lewis. Up until that point, Daukaus was fight pretty well. He was using his movement and speed to land some strikes on Lewis and get away before Lewis could do any damage. In particular, Daukaus used some really nice leg kicks that were probably his best strikes of the fight. With that said I think Daukaus actually did pretty well, Lewis is just a different kind of fight at a level of skill and experience that Daukaus hasn't been in there with.
When it comes to Chris Daukaus, there's really no shortage of options for him. He's only 5 fights into his UFC career, so his next opponent could realistically be anyone other than Lewis and Shamil Abdurakhimov, who was his last opponent before Lewis. The UFC usually likes to match up fighters coming off of a loss with other fighters also coming off of a loss, so we'll stick to that as a way to narrow down the choices. If they still want him to fight up in the rankings, Jairzinho Rozenstruik is one spot above him right now and that's a fight that I think makes a lot of sense, while also sounding like a fun and interesting matchup. Rozenstruik presents an interesting skill set at heavyweight, relying more on technical kickboxing skill and countering rather than just raw power and aggression. This has led to Rozenstruik being in some less than exciting fights lately because he is content to stand and counter, even when his opponent isn't being aggressive enough to warrant such a strategy. I don't think this would be an issue for Daukaus, as he would likely come forward and initiate enough exchanges that the fight would probably be a good one to watch. Another option could be Marcin Tybura, who is coming off of a loss to Alexander Volkov. Tybura would present the highest level grappling threat that we've seen Daukaus take on, which would be another good test for him. This matchup isn't quite as exciting on paper as Rozenstruik's name probably carries a little more weight, but I think it is a perfectly fine fight to make to get one of thos two back on track. The final option that I'll throw out there for Daukaus is Augusto Sakai. Sakai just lost to Tai Tuivasa a couple of weeks ago and will be looking to get back on track. Sakai is also primarily a striker, but he's had a rough go of things lately. This is probably a more exciting fight to watch than the Tybura matchup, so maybe that would make it slightly more favorable in the UFC's eyes. All three of these are very realistic to me and I would be surprised if it wasn't one of those three next for Daukaus. Of course, they could give him someone coming off a win, which would completely throw a wrench into things, but I just don't see that as a necessity in this case. I think I would lean towards Rozenstruik or Sakai over Tybura if it was my decision, but, it doesn't matter that much in reality.
As for Lewis, things are a little more complicated. Because Lewis is a long time UFC veteran, he's fought so many of the top contenders in the UFC. Fortunately for the UFC, Derrick Lewis has the type of personality where he doesn't really care if he's fought someone before or if it's up or down in the rankings. That gives the UFC a little more freedom to make him a fight than they would likely have with any other fighter in his situation. Lewis isn't likely to be fighting up in the rankings against the loser of Gane vs Ngannou or against Stipe or Jon Jones, so those are out. There's potential rematches to be had with Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov, which I think are probably the actual most realistic options for Lewis. The Blaydes fight was much more recent, so I think the Volkov rematch is much more likely. That fight can also be sold a little more easily as Volkov was about to win that fight until Lewis got the finish very late in the third round. Blaydes is also a tough matchup for Lewis because of the dominant wrestling, but it's sort of becoming a trend with Blaydes that his chin isn't the strongest, even if his knockouts do come against Lewis and Franics Ngannou. While, I do think those are the most likely cases for Lewis, I do have one more that I want. Please, MMA Gods, if you're listening, just let us see Tai Tuivasa fight Derrick Lewis. I mean, come on, who doesn't want to see that. We saw the best version of Tuivasa that we've ever seen at UFC 269 and he's on a good run. Derrick Lewis without a doubt would be down for a fun fight like that. A fun opponent that he's never fought before that wants to fight in a style that will give Lewis a chance to win. It may only last one exchange, but let that be either a main card opener or third to last fight on a pay per view and get the crowd going off the jump. Those to me are the three fights that make the most sense for Derrick Lewis, even if Tuivasa is way lower in the rankings. I don't think Derrick Lewis really cares much about that stuff anyways, so I would see that matchup as being very possible. In any case, I was happy to see Lewis bounce back the way he did. He really didn't look good against Cyril Gane, but he seemed back to his old self this past weekend.
What do you guys think? Where should Daukaus go from here? Who do you want to see next for Derrick Lewis? What should Chris Daukaus have done differently? Be on the lookout for my reaction to the Belal Muhammad vs Stephen Thompson fight as well as some more reactions to fights from UFC 269 that I didn't get to talk about yet. Leave any and all thoughts below. Also, comment what types of posts you want to see while we go on a month long break without any MMA events. We'll have to get creative, but if you have any ideas or topics you want to see covered, let me know and we'll get those out as soon as possible. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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