The best and worst from UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor

#3 Best: Derrick Lewis pulls off the best comeback in UFC history

Derrick Lewis pulled off a wild comeback against Alexander Volkov

The UFC Octagon has seen some wild comebacks over the years – Tim Boetsch knocking out Yushin Okami, Donald Cerrone coming back to take out Melvin Guillard, and plenty more – but last night Derrick Lewis might’ve pulled off the best comeback in the history of the promotion.

Faced with giant Russian Alexander Volkov, Lewis was being thoroughly dominated. He was hurt on multiple occasions with shots to the head and particularly the body, and by the third round he was in a huge hole in terms of statistics – according to Fight Metric, Lewis had landed just 21 significant strikes to Volkov’s 80.

The third round was going just as badly for ‘The Black Beast’ until suddenly – with seconds remaining – he decided to open up with some wild punches, and moments later Volkov was unconscious and Lewis was inexplicably removing his shorts in celebration. Apparently “his balls were hot”. Really. This was the definition of fight-changing punching power.

Does Lewis now get a title shot? I’m unsure as personally – assuming he defeats Francis Ngannou next month – I’d still have Curtis Blaydes ahead of him and obviously there’s Brock Lesnar to contend with.

But should the UFC decide to give Lewis the shot there’d be no complaints after a win of this magnitude. ‘The Black Beast’ might not look like a professional athlete, but the man can fight.