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While there wasn’t much fanfare around it, probably due to its odd air time, UFC Fight Night: Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac turned out to be a solid event.
Sure, the event didn’t feature any of the UFC’s biggest stars, but some fighters on offer still picked up big wins, ones that could move them forward in the rankings.
So with a couple of fighters looking to break into the elite level, here are the five biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Derrick Lewis vs. Serghei Spivac.
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#5. Dooho Choi – drew with Kyle Nelson in a UFC featherweight bout
It seems odd to label a fighter who only drew their bout as one of an event’s biggest winners, but it’d be harsh to label Dooho Choi as anything else after last night.
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‘The Korean Superboy’ hadn’t fought in the UFC since 2019, was on a three-fight losing streak, and had suffered a myriad of injuries since his last performance.
Despite this, he didn’t appear to show too much ring rust last night. He quite clearly got the better of opponent Kyle Nelson in all areas, largely reducing the Canadian to doing nothing but clinch.
However, despite his domination, he threw what appeared to be a headbutt in the third round from top position. Whether it was intentional or not is debatable, but referee Chris Tognoni decided to deduct a point, essentially costing Choi a return win.
In the end, though, that shouldn’t matter. He fought well, looked good for the most part, and clearly has something to offer going forward, which was questionable before last night. That alone should make him a big winner, even if his hand wasn’t officially raised.
#4. Adam Fugitt – defeated Yusaku Kinoshita in a UFC welterweight bout
Despite facing a UFC debutant, Adam Fugitt was one of the bigger underdogs on last night’s card.
The veteran had lost his octagon debut pretty badly last summer, and he was also faced with what looked like an exciting prospect in Yusaku Kinoshita. Some fans on social media had even referred to the newcomer as the ‘Japanese Conor McGregor’ thanks to his counterpunching skills.
However, Kinoshita didn’t have any chance to get his counter striking going last night. Fugitt managed to shrug off a pretty clean head kick, and then took the newcomer down and beat him up, finishing him off with elbows with just under 30 seconds remaining in the first round.
Will this win move Fugitt up the ladder at all? Absolutely not; whether he’s a UFC-quality fighter is still debatable in a lot of ways.
However, he did look impressive against a highly touted opponent here. If nothing else, he probably rescued his career with the promotion with his victory. In that sense, he was a big winner.
#3. Devin Clark – defeated Da Un Jung in a UFC light heavyweight bout
One fighter who definitely had his back to the wall last night was Devin Clark. The light-heavyweight veteran had won just once in his last three bouts and suffered a bad knockout in his most recent trip to the octagon.
Given that kind of form, it’s likely that he’d have been cut from the UFC had he lost last night. ‘The Brown Bear’ wasn’t given an easy opponent, either, in the form of Da Un Jung, who had only lost once in the octagon previously.
However, Clark performed really well despite being the underdog. He prevented Jung from striking from range, instead pestering him from the clinch and landing numerous takedowns, including a couple of big ones.
Sure, he never came close to stopping his Korean foe, but he was definitely the better fighter and ended up coming away with a well-earned unanimous decision win.
Whether this win can put ‘The Brown Bear’ on an upward trajectory remains to be seen, but as always, the most important thing for a non-ranked fighter is simply remaining in the UFC. This win will have kept Clark’s spot on the roster safe, and that’s huge.
#2. Tatsuro Taira – defeated Jesus Santos Aguilar in a UFC flyweight bout
Outside of the headline bout, it’s arguable that the fighter who moved himself closest towards title contention last night was flyweight contender Tatsuro Taira.
The Japanese fighter had already reeled off two wins in the UFC prior to last night. After escaping an early guillotine attempt, he easily outgrappled Jesus Santos Aguilar before submitting him with an armbar late in the first round.
Sure, Aguilar was making his octagon debut, but he also came into this bout with six tap-out victories on his ledger. To see Taira outgrapple him so easily, then, was impressive.
Realistically, given that his win also netted him a $50k bonus, the only thing that put a dampener on Taira’s win was the fact that it came in the opening bout.
A main card slot could well have pushed him to the forefront of the minds of the fans, but as it is, he’ll have to wait until his next win for that. As it is, he should find himself in the top 15 at flyweight next week, making him one of last night’s big winners.
#1. Serghei Spivac – defeated Derrick Lewis in a UFC heavyweight bout
The biggest winner at last night’s event was undoubtedly Serghei Spivac. Not only did the heavyweight contender make the most of his first UFC headliner by picking up a victory, he essentially whitewashed his toughest opponent to date in Derrick Lewis.
‘The Black Beast’ had nothing for Spivac from the off. ‘The Polar Bear’ quickly closed the distance, negating Lewis’ punching power, and threw him to the ground within seconds.
From there, he dominated the former title challenger, working him over on the ground before taking him down twice more when Lewis escaped.
After the third takedown, it was quite clear that ‘The Black Beast’ was running out of steam. It was hardly surprising to see Spivac lock up an arm triangle choke to force him to submit.
Whether Spivac has the size and athleticism to compete with the other top fighters in the heavyweight division – names like Sergei Pavlovich, Curtis Blaydes and Ciryl Gane – remains to be seen.
However, the native of Moldova is now on a three-fight win streak and has lost just once in his past seven bouts. That’s enough to make him a genuine contender for the UFC heavyweight title, and it’s clear that he was last night’s biggest winner.
