Born: February 7, 1985 (Age: 37) in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Division: Heavyweight
Height: 6’3”
Reach: 79”
Record: 26-10 (1 NC)
Association: Main Street Boxing and Muay Thai
Stage of Career: Post-Prime
Summary: Lewis is a truly unique fighter, one only possible in the
heavyweight division. He has huge defensive weaknesses, large
grappling holes, below average cardio, a fairly weak chin, and
sometimes makes huge blunders during his fights. And yet, thanks to
his superb hooks and one of the very best uppercuts in the sport's
history, as well as endless toughness and perseverance, he has had
a very good career and is always dangerous, win or lose. Notably,
no matter how badly beaten up or fatigued he is, Lewis can knock an
opponent out with his hands, which he has shown time and time again
throughout his career. Unfortunately, age and injuries have caught
up with him, leaving his defense and chin increasingly vulnerable,
as recent defeats to
Tai Tuivasa
and
Sergei
Pavlovich have shown.
STRIKING
• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Average.
• Jab: Decent, but rarely uses it, prioritizing power punches.
• Cross: Decent, but prioritizes powerful hooks over this
punch.
• Left Hook: Great; one-punch knockout power with nice technique
and plenty of accuracy, though it can be slightly wide.
• Overhand Right: Similar to the left hook, but even better, with
slightly more accuracy. A fantastic shot.
• Overhand Right: Great; insane power, good technique, and
accurate, similar to his hooks.
• Uppercuts: All-time great; tremendously powerful, technical and
even fairly fast. He is especially good at timing his opponent's
ducks with his right uppercut, as illustrated by his beautiful
instant knockout of
Curtis
Blaydes.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Throws very nice punches in
bunches.
• Favorite Combinations: Loves to throw one hook after the other,
in either order.
• Leg kicks: A mixed bag; they're plenty powerful, but also
telegraphed, making it possible to counter him.
• Body kicks: Similar properties to his leg kicks.
• Head kicks: Very showy, but has never caught a half-decent
heavyweight and likely never will, as they're incredibly
telegraphed.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.
• Knees: Showed a nice flying knee that hurt Latifi, that might be
a weapon since his weight loss, but this is unfortunately
counteracted by his advancing age and injuries.
Lewis' striking is centered around his fantastic hooks and one
of the best right uppercuts in MMA history. His hooks are
tremendously hard, with one-punch knockout power in either hand,
and very technical and accurate. He rarely uses the jab or even the
right cross, and against certain skilled strikers, that is a
liability. He also throws nice punches in bunches and a flying
knee, though I wish he had developed the latter weapon earlier in
his career. His kicks aren't much to worry about; the ones to the
legs and body are plenty powerful, but they're also telegraphed.
His head kick looks fancy but is incredibly telegraphed and thus
easy to avoid. The most worrying aspects of Lewis’ striking are in
his defense. It was always average at best and has become
increasingly porous over the years in conjunction with his chin
becoming much weaker; a recipe for disaster, especially against
opponents like Tuivasa and Pavlovich.
CLINCH
• Physical Strength: Good.
• Technique: Average.
• Knees: Excellent; nice, hard knees to the body and a great knee
to the head when given an opportunity, possessing proper technique
and tremendous power.
• Elbows: Good; they are short, powerful, and have some
accuracy.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Average, in part because his
midsection is so vulnerable to blows.
Lewis can be a dangerous striker in the clinch too, especially
with his excellent knees. They're good enough to the body, but are
especially dangerous if he gets an opportunity to strike the head.
He has a nice short elbow as well, but is at some risk to get taken
down due to his average technique with his body position in various
grappling exchanges as well as how vulnerable his body is to
blows.
GRAPPLING
• Wrestling from a Shot: Poor; has a really weird attempt at a type
of side pickup and slam he kept going for against
Alexander
Volkov, but with no success.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Average. Completed a double-leg against
Ivanov and hip-tossed Oleynik, though both foes likely welcomed the
opportunity to go to the ground.
• Takedown Defense: At least slightly above average; he can be
taken down as a counter to his strikes, as well as in the clinch.
In more recent outings,
Blagoy
Ivanov caught a kick and took down an exhausted Lewis with an
outside trip. Lewis did stuff Latifi's attempts in Round 1 and
showed solid balance, although Latifi did take him down with a
beautiful body lock into outside trip and then a double-leg pick-up
and slam in a clinch against the cage.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Good. Can hip-escape, though it can
take a while, and is also good at kicking off the cage. Often waits
for his opponent to try to improve position to make his move, which
works effectively sometimes. Can sometimes give up his back when
getting back up, though.
• Submissions: Practically non-existent at his current level. Has
one career submission all the way back in 2010 but hasn't even
attempted one in years.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Decent. Often tries
to stall from the bottom, although as noted above, he is good at
recognizing when an opponent is trying to advance position and
making a move to get up. There is something to be said for only
being submitted once in his long career, by the great
Daniel
Cormier, and that's despite facing many good and even great
grapplers. At the very least, he is excellent at gritting out some
deep submission attempts.
• Top Control: Weak, and he can even be swept, as
Alexey
Oleynik hit him with a nifty half-guard sweep into a
single-leg.
• Ground-and-Pound: Great, with vicious, accurate punches and
elbows. The trouble is that he is rarely on top for long unless he
is finishing off an opponent.
Lewis has better grappling than most give him credit for.
Offensively, he actually has some wrestling in the clinch, able to
complete a double-leg against Ivanov and a nice hip toss against
Oleynik. His top control is weak, and he can be swept, but he has
fantastic ground-and-pound if allowed to stay there. Defensively,
his takedown defense is slightly above average, though plenty of
fighters have taken him down. However, he is very stubborn and
gritty on the ground. He is good at getting up through a variety of
means, with a solid hip-escape and a very nifty kick off the cage.
He also times when opponents are trying to advance position for his
moves back to the feet. He is surprisingly difficult to submit or
even ground-and-pound effectively, despite having faced a slew of
excellent grapplers.
INTANGIBLES
• Athleticism and general physical strength: Pretty good; fairly
strong and has at least some athleticism if his jumping kicks are
anything to go by, but often lacks foot-speed and fluidity, which
shows he lacks in this area, too.
• Cardio: Since his weight loss, this has improved to be merely
below average. He was noticeably winded midway through Round 2 in a
decently energetic fight with Ivanov, though he never outright
gassed, and even finished strong at the very end. Was never winded
against Latifi in a slow-paced, low-energy affair.
• Chin: Mediocre, especially now, being badly hurt by any solid
connect. This would be even lower if one considers how weak he is
to body blows, being badly hurt there by Volkov and then almost
incapacitated by a spinning back kick from
Junior dos
Santos that shouldn't have been a quarter as devastating as it
was.
• Recuperative Powers: Below average, as he is normally done if he
is badly hurt, but still incredibly dangerous even in those
circumstances thanks to his power.
• Intelligence: Average. Makes some bizarre blunders, like choosing
to clinch and grapple with Oleynik, literally his opponent’s only
chance to win, and almost being submitted for it. On the other
hand, one has to give him credit for having such a long, successful
career and defeating so many more talented foes with such a limited
game and so many large weaknesses.