The two-time UFC heavyweight championship challenger, Derrick Lewis, will seek to return to the top when he faces undefeated contender Tallison Teixeira in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Lewis, who competed for the undisputed title at UFC 230 in November 2018 and for an interim title at UFC 265 in August 2021, will make his first octagon appearance in 2025. His last victory was against Rodrigo Nascimento by knockout in the third round in May 2024. Teixeira comes to the fight after a knockout in the first round over Justin Tafa at UFC 312 in February.
Analysis and Predictions
MMA analysts and former UFC fighters, Anthony Smith and Din Thomas, offer their predictions for the main event.Anthony Smith: “Tallison is a great fighter, but he hasn’t been thoroughly tested. Tallison is tall, but Lewis has a strange ability to find the chin of these young and tall guys. Tallison will probably want to fight, but I feel that Derrick is really good at this anti-fighting thing.”Lewis’ experience is big in a fight like this. It’s been a minute since he fought, but I think he fights better when he’s able to take some time to think about how big these fights are.
Din Thomas
