Derrick Lewis vs Chris Daucas fight prediction

American heavyweight Derrick Lewis has been pleasing his fans with colorful fights in the UFC for 7 years. This is one of the few strikers who managed to gain a foothold in the top of the division for a long time. However, now he will have a meeting with a guy who loves to knock out rivals no less than him - Chris Daukas from Philadelphia.

They were honored to lead the UFC Fight Night 199 tournament, and one cannot but agree that the expectations of the public from this confrontation place a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of athletes. This is the perfect opportunity for Chris to be one of the first in the lineup, but Derrick has definitely prepared a few signature surprises for him.

• Derrick Lewis vs Chris Daucas;
• Derrick Lewis;
• Chris Daucas;
• Comparative analysis;
• Game Totals Prediction.

Derrick Lewis vs Chris Daucas

Derrick Lewis

This "fighting dog", otherwise it can not be called, is on the 3rd line of the rating, despite the fact that he came to mixed martial arts with a boxing base behind his back. Such one-sidedness did not prevent him from becoming the champion of Legacy FC, picking up 7 bonuses for the best performances and fights of the evening, as well as getting to the fight for the UFC title, moreover, twice, albeit unsuccessfully in both cases.

Derrick managed to go through wars with the top opposition of different times, from Mark Hunt and Travis Brown to Francis Nganna and Daniel Cormier, although he was clearly not the toughest fight with the current champion. Once again, we focus on the fact that Lewis is a boxer, and he did not justify his blue belt in BJJ by any actions in the octagon at all.

Strengths

"Black Beast" is a natural knockout, he does not need a big swing, accuracy, he can be tired, and so on, but the opponent will still be knocked out. And even though Derrick is not particularly active, which weakens the attention of his opponents, but when the moment comes to explode, or meet a counter-attack, this guy will do everything right.

Lewis practically does not transfer to the ground, but, dropping the opponent with a blow, he definitely follows the finishing move, and here it is impossible to stop him - even in this position, every blow performed by the American scares with its strength.

Weaknesses

Daniel Cormier showed that Derrick, against the background of the basic fighters, is an absolute zero. If you do not linger with him in the rack, and do not shove frankly forward, as Curtis Blades did, exhausting and even finishing the ex-challenger on the ground is not such a difficult task.

The current form and readiness of the fighter

The athlete is 36 years old, he passed his peak a long time ago, but due to the same striking power, he is still afloat. As many as 4 victories in the last 5 fights, moreover, over the opposition of the level of the aforementioned Blades, Blagoy Ivanov and Alexei Oleinik, tell us that Lewis is competitive and ready for tough challenges. Cyril Gan, to whom he lost in August, dismantled the sluggish Derrick at the expense of a footwork, but the rest cannot boast of such skills, therefore one should expect bright knockouts from the favorite of the American public and beyond.

Chris Daucas

The fighter is ranked 7th in the UFC heavyweight rankings. Chris is a representative of the modern MMA school, because he did not have any base before practicing mixed martial arts. He has reached the BJJ black belt level, but prefers to use boxing as the main tool to neutralize the enemy. Remarkably, the athlete is a police officer, successfully combining work with a career in the major league.

Daukas spent most of his time at Cage Fury FC, where he became a contender for the title, but failed to defeat the champion, after which, in 2020, he moved to the UFC. Chris holds the title in the division in the number of accented punches per minute (9 hits every 60 seconds). But he could demonstrate such results in confrontations with the age opposition, far from the top of the top.

Strengths

Out of 12 victories in his career, 11 times Daukas made out finishes, and 9 times he did it in the 1st round. He rarely spends time on reconnaissance, always rushing towards rivals and simply crushes them with a crazy number of punches, which he rarely punches somewhere other than the head.

In almost a year and a half in the UFC, Chris has yet to be on the ground with perfect takedown defense. At the same time, even while finishing off, he does not seek to use BJJ, but prefers to work out with a grain-and-pound.

Weaknesses

It is quite obvious that Daukas has not yet been knocked out (although he had such defeats in his career) only because he came across an opposition that was unable to withstand such pressure. In the attack mode, he does not think at all about any elementary head protection, often dropping his hands, which in a fight with a good boxer may end up sadly for him.

The current form and readiness of the fighter

Chris is 32, is on a 5-win streak, and has earned performance bonuses in his last 3 fights. Two victories in 2021 over Alexei Oleinik and Shamil Abdurakhimov, as well as a quick finish in a fight with Rodrigo Nascimento in the opening made it clear that the guy is progressing from fight to fight. Now he is waiting for the most important step in his career, which will either allow him to shoot or leave him outside the TOP-5 for a long time.

Comparative analysis

We start with size and anthropometry, where the underdog in the person of Lewis holds the lead: 3 cm in height, almost 8 cm in the span of the arms, and at least 7-10 kg in weight. The fact is that Derrick is forced to do weight-racking in order to keep within 120 kg, so he will approach a fight with a mass of about 125-127 kg, at least. Stylistically, the fighters are comfortable with each other, because both will not chase takedowns, and prefer to fight on their hands, although there is still a noticeable difference between them.

Daukas relies on high-speed work as the first number, protracted combinations and pressing, while "Black Beast" prefers to wait for its victim, catching it on counterattacks. He can also go forward, but only in separate episodes, and therefore, it is more than likely that the first round will be the final in this confrontation. Of course, Chris can bet on the late five minutes, where it is safer to fly to Derrick, but even a completely exhausted Texan is ready to charge for furious punches (Volkov will confirm). And the superiority here will be intercepted by the one who can act intelligently, and not be guided by instincts.

Derrick Lewis vs Chris Daucas Fight Prediction

It’s rather strange to watch young and not yet well-known athletes walk into a cage with formidable veterans as favorites. Experience, beaten opposition, striking power and cunning of Lewis can become a real, unsolvable problem for Daukas, who does not know how to work from an opponent, and will definitely go to rapprochement, and this is Derrick's territory. As mentioned above, Chris's team may not be taking advantage of Lewis's most outstanding cardio, but something tells me that I shouldn't bet on it. As a result, the "Black Beast" is the real favorite in this pair for me, because Daukas has never met an opponent of this level. So what awaits us is either a bright victory performed by a veteran, or just a beautiful knockout, which will be issued by one of the guys. Download 1xbet to your phone and place a bet on the favorite!

Prediction: Derrick Lewis wins