UFC Fight Night 215 Beforemath: 'Apex' Predator

---

After a banger of an event in UFC 281, we return to action this weekend with a hard-hitting heavyweight showdown. The heaviest puncher in MMA—Derrick Lewis—will face off against the decently well-rounded Sergey Spivak. With us returning to the Apex for UFC Fight Night 215, it’s the time of the week that we drop a new issue of Beforemath and break the matchup down!

Tale of the Tape

“UFC Vegas 65” features a No. 7 vs. No. 12 matchup which could result in a passing of the guard from Lewis, who has been a pretty tough gatekeeper for the top of the division. Now 37, Lewis is on the worst run of his career. 1-3 in his last four fights, it’s been some ugly showings for “The Black Beast” in recent years.

After his failed and oft-forgotten title shot against Daniel Cormier, Lewis climbed his way back to the top of the heavyweight division, literally leaving bodies in his wake. While he lost his next fight to Junior dos Santos, Lewis roared back with four straight wins over Blagoy Ivanov, Ilir Latifi, Alexey Oleynik and Curtis Blaydes.

Lewis was then given an interim title shot against UFC newcomer Ciryl Gane. There, he met his match and was brutalized by the striking specialist and failed to get off anything meaningful. Upon his return, Derrick Lewis had a “Y’all must have forgot moment” and knocked out the next big name in the heavyweight division in a win over Chris Daukaus. His most recent run has been disappointing as Tai Tuivasa came through with his resurgence and knocked Lewis out in an insane fight with tons of action. Lewis returned five months later and was finished once again, this time by Sergei Pavlovich. Lewis has never lost three straight and looks to avoid that this weekend but that’s absolutely easier said than done with who is in front of him: Sergey Spivak, the latest man looking to make a name off of the wildly popular Lewis. With a win, Spivak can put his name with the best of the division and begin to make his case for a shot at the title.

Since joining the UFC in 2019, Spivak has been hit-or-miss. He lost his debut decisively when he was knocked out by Walt Harris in under a minute. His return saw him beat Tuivasa, a win that has aged quite well. After losing to Marcin Tybura, Spivak made the best run of his UFC career. He managed to notch three straight wins against Carlos Felipe, Jared Vanderaa and the aforementioned Oleynik. Spivak hit a bump in the road in Tom Aspinall but managed to rebound once more with two more wins. He sent Greg Hardy packing by grappling him into oblivion and the performance handed Hardy his pink slip from the UFC. Coming off of that win, Spivak put on a blistering performance against Augusto Sakai last August which set up the fight we are looking down the barrel of today. Defeating Derrick Lewis sets a fighter up to be seen as good or bad and Spivak is hoping to be put in the “good” category. With a win, he can set up that rematch with Tuivasa or someone new like Sergei Pavlovich, but before him is Lewis, the heaviest hitting man in the promotion.

What is there to say about Lewis?

Normally, Before and Aftermath issues are dedicated to the technical side of the art of fighting, but we are talking about Lewis here. When he fights we know what to expect. He’s not technical and he’s not flashy. Instead he stands there, not quite sure what to do with his hands unless he is punching. Lewis has long suffered with an identity crisis as an MMA fighter. He wants to lose weight for better cardio but he doesn’t. Should he get more technical? Probably, but he really hasn’t changed since his debut in 2014. In fact he’s almost completely abandoned the ground game that he utilized early in his career so if he’s changed, it might be more accurate to say he’s actually regressed. Lewis’ fighting style is a relic of the past that has gotten him to the top of the UFC’s heavyweight division. He does possess the great equalizer. You can be a great on the feet, a fantastic wrestler, a jiu-jitsu specialist or anything else, but Lewis possesses SCUD missiles in his fists and there’s not a person on planet earth he couldn’t knock out.

We’ve seen Lewis beaten before through grappling and through superior striking. Where he really thrives is in the brawl. Against Spivak, that’s where he needs to take the fight. In the past we’ve seen Lewis struggle with leading the dance and put on some stinker fights—Francis Ngannou, anyone?—but we did see against Daukaus and Tuivasa that he can get in there and cause the chaos required to get the fight where he needs it to be. In one fight he got the finish and the other he was finished, so the issue is defensive ability.

Spivak isn’t bad on the feet but he doesn’t pack a punch quite like a Tuivasa does, nor does he possess the striking prowess of Gane. This is the exact type of fighter Lewis needs to push the pace on. With Spivak, however, Lewis needs to be wary of the trips. Spivak isn’t going to shoot a double-leg takedown like Blaydes. Spivak does well getting the fight to the ground from the clinch. With Lewis being easily pushed back, Spivak could push to the fence to get to the clinch and take away some of that power. Lewis needs to dare Spivak to meet him in the middle of the cage and stay away from the fence.

I would like to see Lewis bring something new to the game. We used to see some brutal ground-and-pound from Lewis and I would like to see that again from the Houston native. While Spivak has mostly been the grappler throughout his career, I’d like to see him tested defensively. Lewis is bigger and stronger and if he takes care in the clinch he can jab a finish. A win might not make him a title contender but it sets us up for more Lewis shenanigans in a post-fight interview and who doesn’t love that?

Spivak: Tread Carefully

Many fighters more skilled than Lewis have lost to him. With the power Lewis possesses, Spivak and his team are sure to be wary of that chance that Lewis can land and work to mitigate that chance. Spivak is a good judoka in the relative terms of MMA heavyweight judo. To get this fight where he can win it, Spivak will do well to get to the ground. But much like Gal Gadot crossing No Man’s Land in “Wonder Woman,” Spivak will have to avoid bombs to get into clinch range to get the fight to the ground. Spivak needs to not be afraid of those bombs. He cannot get into the cage and be afraid of what’s coming back his way. That’s a recipe for disaster for. Lewis will let people walk him back to the fence and Spivak can use his boxing to do so, with straight punches, specifically the jab up top and to the body. Body work will be another point of interest for Spivak. Lewis will melt with the jab to the body and that will order the cardio discrepancy for Spivak. He and his team need to make it a point to go to the body early and often.

Returning to the trips, getting that too-heavy pressure that Spivak is so good at will double down on the cardio differential between Lewis and himself. These two points are paramount for Spivak. Dilly-dally on the feet too long and he will wake up in the ambulance wondering why he’s not fighting yet.

---

In the figure above, we see Spivak utilizing the trip in a sloppy, but effective ouchi gari, which is an inside leg trip. (1) In the initial exchange, we see Spivak throw what looks to be an overhand right on the surface. As it turns out, the “strike” is a way to close the distance and get his right arm in position for an overhook. Notice, however, that Spivak enters with his head forward and his chin unprotected. Do this against Lewis and Spivak will bite the dust. (2) As he gets within range, Spivak has closed the distance and is out of heavy punching range. But he doesn’t want to hang out in this area and get caught in a clinch situation with the stronger and heavier hitting Lewis. Here he can get reversed and pushed against the fence where Lewis can fire away without a care in the world. To finish the takedown (3) Spivak hooked his leg around the inside of Sakai’s right leg. As he is reaping the leg, Spivak leans forward and ends up on top of Sakai and makes him pay with ground and pound.

Lastly, Spivak will want to make sure to maintain a good base when he’s on top of Lewis. Lewis has meme’d himself into a “just stand up” mentality when he’s taken down and if Spivak is not careful, his takedown will be all for nothing because Lewis got tired of being on the bottom. Good wrist control for Spivak will be important. Being able to pull the posted arm out from Lewis will be an asset for Spivak to keep the fight where he has the best chances of winning.

While this fight packs tons of heavyweight potential, the card itself is pretty low consequence, but with the main event having such a heavy hitter in Lewis, excitement can come at any time.