No man has claimed more UFC knockouts than Derrick Lewis, and “The Black Beast” added another finish to his resume with a third-round TKO of Rodrigo Nascimento at UFC St. Louis.
Lewis faced Nascimento in the main event at the Enterprise Center, where a 15,000-strong crowd roared “The Black Beast” to victory as he handed Nascimento only the second defeat of his career.
Lewis had promised to showcase some more wrinkles to his game, and he certainly did so in a performance that saw not only his usual striking prowess, but also some smart grappling and wrestling skills as he managed to take the Brazilian grappling specialist to the mat on a couple of occasions with surprise takedowns. Despite that, Lewis had to be on his mettle on the mat as he took the bout into the Brazilian’s wheelhouse. But, despite some periods of positional dominance, Nascimento was unable to do too much against Lewis, who shut down his opponent’s ground-based offence pretty well.
After two rounds of action spent both in the stand-up and on the mat, Lewis’ coach, Kru Bob Perez, stressed to his longtime charge that the win was there for the taking if he kept things on the feet. And that’s exactly what Lewis did as he let his hands go and got the finish the Missouri crowd were baying for.
The finishing sequence began when a clubbing overhand right clipped Nascimento on the temple and sent him to the canvas. Lewis then swarmed his man and battered him with additional ground strikes until referee Jason Herzog stepped in to wave off the contest 48 seconds into the third round.
It gave Lewis his 15th finish in the UFC – all by knockout/TKO – and showed that, at the age of 39, “The Black Beast” is still very much in his prime in the UFC. And, to celebrate his victory, Lewis took off his shorts, threw his protective cup into press row, and even mooned at the St. Louis crowd, before enjoying a typically entertaining post-fight interview with Micheal Bisping.
Hometown hero Buckley delivers
Rising welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley campaigned hard for a spot on the fight card in St. Louis, and the local man took full advantage of his co-main event showcase with a crowd-pleasing unanimous decision victory over Nursulton Ruziboev.
Facing a six-foot-five finisher with 32 stoppage wins on his record looked like a tough task on paper, but Buckley attacked the challenge with relish as he delivered an energetic, explosive, but smart performance to shut down the Uzbek fighter and earn a dominant victory on the scorecards.
The danger level was high through the first two rounds, with Ruziboev throwing hard and looking to time Buckley’s blitzes with counter strikes and big knees. But “New Mansa” fought to a tight gameplan, as he minded his P’s and Q’s on his entries and exits to largely avoid his opponent’s most dangerous strikes.
Then, in the third round, Buckley turned up the heat and dropped his man early. As the action progressed, the American found himself on top of the Uzbek, raining down heavy ground strikes as he chased a late finish. But, with referee Keith Peterson happy to let the action continue, Ruziboev hung tough, before some illegal upkicks forced the official to pause the action to allow Buckley to recover. Rather than return to top position, Buckley called for the action to return to the stand-up and the pair finished the bout looking to stand and trade.
Eventually, the judges were called into action, with the scorecards giving Buckley a lop-sided unanimous decision victory, with scores of 30-27, 30-26, 29-27.
The best of the rest
The main card also saw a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it win for Kiwi light heavyweight Carlos Ulberg, who met fire with fire against Alonzo Menifield to finish the American in just 12 seconds of their 205-pound clash.
Menifield came out swinging hard, but it was Ulberg’s strikes that carried more accuracy as the New Zealander dropped his man twice in a wild opening flurry that ended with referee Nick Berens stopping the action just a dozen seconds into the bout.
It gave Ulberg a breakthrough victory that should see him earn a spot in the light heavyweight rankings, while also giving him the third fastest knockout in UFC light heavyweight history.
The main card also saw an impressive win for Brazilian lightweight Diego Ferreira, who halted Mateusz Rebecki’s 16-fight win streak with a third-round TKO finish that left the Polish fighter cut, battered and bruised.
The preliminary card saw a breakout performance from rising lightweight talent Chase Hooper, who dominated, then finished Viacheslav Borshchev via second-round submission, while Estaban Ribovics claimed one of the knockouts of the year with a stunning head-kick KO of fellow knockout artist Terrance McKinney just 37 seconds into their lightweight bout.
HEAD KICK KNOCKOUT! 😱
🇦🇷 Esteban Ribovics with a HUGE first-round finish to bring the #UFCStLouis crowd to their feet! pic.twitter.com/r4fwLAMeWe
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) May 11, 2024
Earlier in the night, there was also a crowd-pleasing victory for St. Louis’ own Charles Johnson. The former multi-sport collegiate standout and former LFA flyweight champion battled back and forth with England’s Jake Hadley in a fun flyweight contest before earning the unanimous nod from the judges with scores of 29-28 across the board.
And Veronica Hardy continued her good form following her return to action last year. The 28-year-old flyweight made it three wins in a row since returning from a two-year layoff, with her latest win coming in St. Louis against divisional veteran JJ Aldrich.
Hardy’s sharp striking was the key differentiating factor in a well-contested bout that went to the scorecards, with Hardy earning scores of 29-28 from all three judges to improve her record to 9-4-1.
UFC St. Louis: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Derrick Lewis vs. Rodrigo Nascimento via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 0:49
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Nursulton Ruziboev via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-27)
- Carlos Ulberg def. Alonzo Menifield via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:12
- Diego Ferreira def. Mateusz Rebecki via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:51
- Sean Woodson def. Alex Caceres via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Robelis Despaigne via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Chase Hooper def. Viacheslav Borschev via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 2, 3:00
- Esteban Ribovics def. Terrance McKinney via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 0:37
- Tabatha Ricci def. Tecia Pennington via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Trey Waters def. Billy Ray Goff via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Charles Johnson def. Jake Hadley via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Veronica Hardy def. JJ Aldrich via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
A sports editor and MMA reporter with 25 years' experience in sports media, Simon has covered mixed martial arts since 2009 for a host of national and international outlets, including UFC, BBC Sport, MMA Junkie/USA Today, BT Sport and the Daily Mirror.