A series of articles appreciating some of the best knockouts in combat sports

The inaugural knockout of this series that will be visited and appreciated is from Curtis Blaydes vs Derrick Lewis. This fight took place on February 20th, 2021. At the time of this bout, Blaydes was ranked as no.2 in the Heavyweight division of the UFC while Lewis was ranked no.4.

A lot of bad blood brewed between the two fighters over Twitter and they’d exchanged their opinions of one another quite a few times in interviews before their clash. Blaydes chose to insult and brush off Lewis as a brawler with little real skills because of his perceived lack of real grappling skill. This was the main point of contention in their prefight chirping.

The fight itself showed both fighters using their unique brand of talents against one another. The first round showed a very tentative Lewis shuffling patiently trying to set up his offense on the feet, while Blaydes stayed on the outside making the decision to pick Lewis apart with consistent biting leg kicks.

It was in the second round that Lewis woke up and began to make a point to attack more actively while staying patient knowing that eventually, Blaydes would make the obvious move to shoot for the takedown and use the grappling that got him to the no.2 spot in the division at the time. However, it was that move that proved to be a grave error as Lewis timed the takedown attempt. He knew the shot was coming and as it did, he sent a charging locomotive of a right uppercut, which crashed into the chin of Blaydes.

Blaydes was unconscious immediately upon the uppercut landing, but that didn’t stop Lewis from getting two thunderous revenge shots (which were most certainly Herb Dean’s fault) while Blaydes was transcending realities on the canvas.

As is the case with most knockouts, there’s some kind of lesson here to be shared and remembered. If you choose to talk trash about the lack of nuance and surprises in another fighter’s skillset, you should be a little less predictable yourself.