UFC St. Louis went down last night (Sat., May 11, 2024) from inside Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, which saw Derrick Lewis return to his head-smashing ways be delivering a monstrous knockout win over Rodrigo Nascimento (see it again here). In the co-main event, Joaquin Buckley delivered a dominant performance over Nursulton Ruziboev to earn a clear-cut unanimous decision.
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Biggest Winner: Derrick Lewis
Coming into the event, Lewis was on a pretty horrid streak, losing three of his last four fights including coming up short against Jailton Almeida in his most recent fight. “Black Beast” later revealed he went into that fight with two bum shoulders and a pair of ear infections, which obviously hindered his performance. But the hard-hitting big man returned the “Black Beast” of old after demolishing Rodrigo Nascimento with a third-round technical knockout (TKO). The win reminded the Heavyweight division just how dangerous the big man from Houston, Texas can be, and how quickly he can turn the tides of a fight. It was peak Derrick Lewis and with newfound confidence, he can be even more dangerous his next time out.
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Runner (s) Up: Carlos Ulberg and Joaquin Buckley
Ulberg needed only 12 seconds to put an end to Alonzo Menifield’s night, stopping him with a barrage of punches in the opening frame to secure himself a cool $50,000 post-fight bonus award. He also nabbed his sixth straight win, which will get him into the Top 15 come next week. As for Buckley, after rattling the cage and driving Dana White crazy to get a fight on his home turf, he delivered with an all-time performance. Indeed, “New Mansa” used all of his tools to secure a unanimous decision win, but what really surprised everyone was his wrestling, which Nursulton Ruziboev had no answer for. Most felt Ruziboev would have the advantage there, but he didn’t, and it cost him his first loss in his last 12 fights. For Buckley, it’s his fourth straight win, which will put him into the Top 10.
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Biggest Loser: Robelis Despaigne
Despaigne came into the fight having never gone past the first round, winning his first five fights via first round knockout, including his UFC debut. But as we have seen in the past, when big men are accustomed to ending fights early and aren’t acclimated to lengthy, grueling fights it usually ends up badly for them. And that’s just what happened to the Olympic bronze medalist, who put up an absolute stinker against Waldo Cortes-Acosta, who manhandled him every which way he please, Once it got on the ground, “The Big Boy” had no answer, and Cortes-Acosta was just dominant there as he was when the fight was standing. This all-time flop from someone many had big expectations for will truly hurt his career. How much, however, remains to be seen.
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