Will Lewis Be A Problem for Cormier at UFC 230?

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As reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN, the UFC has booked Daniel Cormier vs Derrick Lewis for their main event on November 3rd at UFC 230. Cormier is scheduled to make his first defense as the Heavyweight champion. As for Lewis, he is currently ranked #2 in the division. At UFC 229, Lewis handed Alexander Volkov his first loss in the UFC via knockout in the closing seconds of the third round.

Cormier won the championship for himself at UFC 222 on July 7th in which he defeated Stipe Miocic in the final seconds of the first round. In addition to being the Heavyweight Champion, Cormier is also labeled as the Light Heavyweight champion.

Lewis has stated in his last two fights that he feels he isn’t ready for a title shot yet, but with his last five fights ending with four victories, it sure looks like Lewis could be ready to prove himself wrong. The ground game for Lewis isn’t elite by any means, and that was evident in his bout against Marcin Tybura. Although Lewis was dismantled on the ground for a majority of the fight, his last-minute comebacks are one of the aspects to love about him.

For Cormier, his knockout power and wrestling makes him the heavy favorite against a fighter such as Lewis. That being said, does Lewis have the ability to avoid the takedowns and counter with strikes against a champion such as Cormier?

Many fighters have been in this situation before; Michael Bisping did the unthinkable when he knocked out Luke Rockhold, Matt Serra upset just about everyone when he knocked out Georges St-Pierre, and Conor McGregor proved us all wrong when he knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds.

The point is that all three came in unlikely to beat the odds, but they did it. Derrick Lewis has a chip on his shoulder, and a victory over Daniel Cormier in Madison Square Garden would put himself in that same sentence as the aforementioned fighters.

Photo credit: ESPN