Tomorrow night in the main event of UFC St. Louis, the promotion’s all time knockout king makes his return. “The Black Beast” Derrick Lewis (27-12) is back at it as he looks to snap out of his recent funk when he takes on fifteenth ranked Rodrigo Nascimento (11-1, 1 NC).
Starting with Nascimento, he earned his shot in the UFC on The Contender Series. After winning his debut, he was knocked out by Chris Daukaus in under a minute. However, since that loss, he’s been perfect having gone 3-0, 1 NC in his last four fights. In his last appearance, he won a close decision over Don’Tale Mayes.
He’ll be standing across the octagon from Derrick Lewis. Back in 2021, Derrick Lewis knocked out Curtis Blaydes to win his fourth fight in a row and earned him an interim UFC heavyweight title fight against Ciryl Gane. However, starting with the Gane fight, he’s just 2-5 in his last seven fights.
Last summer, he had a brilliant knockout win over Marcos Rogerio de Lima and then the promotion started working on him against Jairzinho Rozenstruik. However, he stepped in for the UFC on short notice and fought Jailton Almeida in Brazil in a main event. A fight he lost, so he’s trying to regain the momentum from his win last July.
UFC St. Louis Prediction
When it comes to this matchup, it all comes down to whether or not Derrick Lewis can keep his distance. Make no mistake about it, Nascimento is not going to try and strike for extended periods of time with Derrick Lewis. While he’s comfortable striking, he’s going to try and take this fight to the ground as soon as he can.
If he stays at range for a considerable amount of time, he’s going to get finished by Derrick Lewis. I really see a clear path to victory for both men at UFC St. Louis. That said, I’m going to roll with The Black Beast here. I just think that when all is said and done, Lewis is going to find the right shot at the right time and add to his knockout resume.
Prediction: Derrick Lewis by TKO