Preview: UFC 271 ‘Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2’

Heavyweights

#3 HW | Derrick Lewis (26-8, 17-6 UFC) vs. #11 HW | Tai Tuivasa (13-3, 7-3 UFC)

ODDS: Lewis (-180), Tuivasa (+155)

Rumors of Lewis’ demise have been greatly exaggerated. After serving as a standard glass cannon for the first few years of his UFC career, “The Black Beast” has adopted a style that should not work at all but is absolutely perfect for a heavyweight, remaining calm and waiting for a moment to spring into action and obliterate his opponent. There can be long stretches of inactivity or relatively little action—opponents frequently fear the New Orleans native’s power and attempt to outwrestle him, only to tire and then get knocked out anyway—but while Lewis is often easy to hurt, he is hard to finish and can usually put his opponents’ lights out before the final horn. Lewis’ second attempt to claim UFC gold went disastrously in an August bout against Ciryl Gane. The Frenchman had the frame and proclivity to pick apart Lewis from range while never finding himself in trouble, and the loss was one-sided enough that some wondered if it finally signaled the latter’s late-career slide. Within months, Lewis was back as a clear top heavyweight with the skills that he brings to the table. Rising prospect Chris Daukaus had little for Lewis in their main event pairing, and the UFC’s last fight of 2021 saw the Houston resident celebrate a quick knockout victory. At this point, it seems that the worry is going to be more about finding fresh opponents for Lewis than his starting any sort of slide. That is not a problem in this case, as Lewis takes a short turnaround assignment against the surging Tuivasa.

It was not all that long ago that Tuivasa looked like he was headed towards being a prospect bust. The affable Aussie quickly charged up the ladder with three impressive wins, including a highlight-reel finish of Rashad Coulter, which led the UFC to strike while the iron was hot and put him opposite Junior dos Santos in a main event spot. Tuivasa nearly won but instead suffered a second-round knockout that kicked off a three-fight losing streak. Once Tuivasa lost what in was clearly meant to a bounce-back spot against Sergey Spivak, it was an open question as to whether or not “Bam Bam” would even stay on the UFC roster. After a year off to regroup, it is hard to say that Tuivasa is now a technical marvel, but he is now clearly a much more patient and effective fighter, tamping down the wildness and relying more on his natural power. He can still thrive in a quick brawl—victories over Harry Hunsucker and Greg Hardy lasted less than two minutes combined—but wins over Stefan Struve and Augusto Sakai saw Tuivasa take a bit more time in marching forward and finding a finish.

This does seem to be a particularly tough ask for Tuivasa, who finds himself in the same boat as most heavyweights. He can probably hurt Lewis but not in a way in which he can stay safe and not eat a brutal knockout blow in return. While Tuivasa has improved, there is still not any obvious tool—clinch fighting is unlikely to work—that alleviates that problem. This should be fun while it lasts, but the pick is Lewis via first-round knockout.

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