The best and worst of UFC 226

#3 Worst: The Lewis/Ngannou debacle

Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou put on possibly the worst fight of 2018

When the UFC made a fight between Francis Ngannou – ‘The Predator’ – and Derrick Lewis – ‘The Black Beast’ – for this card, it sounded almost worthy of having its own monster movie. A clash between two of the UFC’s heaviest hitters, most fans figured that a knockout was almost guaranteed to happen, and probably a violent one too.

Instead, the fight turned out to be one of the dampest squibs in UFC history. Circle, feint, circle, a feint was the story of the fight, as Ngannou fought one of the most passive fights in recent memory, and Lewis was barely any better – although he did just enough to ease out a unanimous decision victory.

The image that summed up the fight up? The moment in the second round when referee Herb Dean had to warn both men for timidity, and demand that they actually stand and fight.

And surprisingly enough, they didn’t really heed the warning and went back to circle and feint.

Quite what was wrong I’m not sure. Lewis claimed he had back spasms, while it appeared that maybe Miocic took Ngannou’s soul when he beat him down badly back in January.

To say the shine has now gone off both men would be an understatement – this was the worst televised fight of 2018 thus far.

---

What did you think about UFC 226? Sound off your opinions in the comments section below!