Monday Morning Hangover: What’s next for Derrick Lewis after losing third straight at UFC Vegas 68?

We has an action-packed weekend of fights last Saturday night (Feb. 4, 2023) with UFC Vegas 68 going down inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Bellator 290 blowing the roof of the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California.

Several fighters were feeling the post-fight blues once the dust settled, including Fedor Emelianenko, who was knocked out by Ryan Bader in the main event of Bellator 290 in the final fight of his career (see it again here). And Sabah Homasi, who was knocked out by Brennan Ward in an all-out bloodbath.

But which fighter might be feeling the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the events?

Derrick Lewis.

Coming into his headlining fight against Serghei Spivac, “Black Beast” was hoping to turn things around for himself after suffering back-to-back first stoppage losses against Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovoch. In doing so, the hard hitting big man would avoid falling out of the Top 10.

But things went from bad to worse in a hurry for the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight title challenger after he was forced to tap out to an air-tight arm triangle in the very first round, giving him three straight losses and putting hi, at 1-4 in his last five.

That’s a drastic downfall for a man who has competed for UFC gold on two occasions and was as feared as they come inside the cage. The same man who would sleep the best of them with one touch of the bricks he calls fists. But since 2021, Lewis just hasn’t looked the same. He did score a knockout win over Chris Dauakus in between his skid, but his dreadful run over the last two years is somewhat unfathomable.

The good thing is that Lewis won’t be going anywhere because UFC president, Dana White, has already confirmed that “Black Beast” will not be losing his spot on the roster as a result of his current skid.

“Listen, I have a lot of respect for Derrick Lewis,” White said after the fight “I love the guy. And he got manhandled tonight. Spivac looked really good. He made a big statement tonight.”

“Not with me,” White said regarding Lewis’ stock dropping. “I love the guy. I love him, so he’s not going anywhere.”

The only place Lewis needs to go to is the winner’s circle because while he does have White’s vote of confidence, a fourth straight loss just might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. That said, we know Lewis has the power and ability in his fists to turn things around in the blink of an eye.

There aren’t too many people Lewis hasn’t faced off against in the Heavyweight division, and few rematches that make sense. The only three people in the Top 15 that Lewis has yet to face are Stipe Miocic, Alexander Romanov and Jailton Almeida. The only fight of those three that makes sense in Romanov, since he is ranked No. 13 and is coming off a loss to Marcin Tybura.

Unless you have a better suggestion?

To see complete results for Bellator 290 click here, and for UFC Vegas 68 click here.