The main event drama continues in New York City for UFC 230 as yet another main event has been announced. Brett Okamoto of ESPN has confirmed, via UFC president, Dana White, that UFC heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier will be defending his title in just under four weeks against Derrick Lewis.
BREAKING: Per Dana White, "the fight is done" between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 on Nov. 3 in New York.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 9, 2018
This announcement comes exactly one week after a different main event was made official. On Tuesday, October 2, it was announced that Valentina Shevchenko would face Sijara Eubanks for the vacant women’s flyweight title. This announcement received a lot of backlash from fans as they didn’t feel it was a suitable main event. But now with the announcement of Cormier-Lewis, the women’s fight has been cancelled. However, Shevchenko will still get her shot as she will meet Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 for the flyweight title. As for Eubanks, she is very upset with the outcome, as she expresses her feelings via Twitter:
@BulletValentina Me and you muthafucka we gonna fight. @joannamma stay ya ass on vacation you not ready for the big dogs. I want my fuckin belt yo
— Sijara SarJ Eubanks (@SarJnCharge) October 9, 2018
Derrick Lewis gets a quick turnaround
Derrick Lewis will be heading into this title fight against Cormier after coming off one of the craziest comeback wins ever just a few days ago at UFC 229. On October 6, Lewis stepped into the octagon against Alexander Volkov in an important heavyweight matchup. The fight seemed to be going Volkov’s way, at least for 14 minutes and 45 seconds.
With less than 20 seconds to go, Lewis fired a massive right hand that dropped Volkov. He would follow it up with brutal ground and pound that knocked Volkov out cold. After the victory, Lewis made it clear he was nowhere near ready for a title shot:
“I need to sit my black ass down and do some more cardio. Fuck what you talking about right now. I ain’t tryin to fight for no title right now. Not with no gas tank like that.”
But, all of a sudden, three days later, Lewis will be headlining UFC 230 for the heavyweight title in less than a month.
Daniel Cormier looks for his first title defence at heavyweight
About four months ago, Daniel Cormier stepped inside the cage for one of the biggest fights of his life at UFC 226. Standing across the octagon from him was UFC heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic. Already holding the light heavyweight title, Cormier looked to join Conor McGregor as the only fighter to holds two belts simultaneously.
The first round was close. Cormier would lock Miocic up against the cage a couple times and would control him there. Miocic also would land well, but he would never hurt Cormier. With less than 30 seconds remaining in round one, Cormier got Miocic back in the clinch. When the two broke apart, Cormier landed a short punch that dropped Miocic. He followed up with heavy ground and pound that forced the ref to stop the fight. Daniel Cormier had just won his second belt.
After the win, former heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar, entered the cage after being called out by Cormier and would proceed to shove Cormier. The altercation would set up what could be the biggest fight of all time. However, Lesnar wasn’t eligible to fight until January due to having to re-enter the USADA testing pool.
People wondered who Cormier’s next opponent could be. And then Jon Jones got his USADA hearing results back. Jones would be suspended only fifteen months dating back to his failed test in July 2017. This would make him eligible by the end of October. This prompted the UFC to attempt to set up a fight between the bitter rivals at UFC 232 on December 29. But Cormier said he could not fight until January because he was dealing with a hand injury. But now Cormier has agreed to defend his title against Derrick Lewis in less than a month.
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