There was no secret why Matt Mitrione and Derrick Lewis were put together in the cage at Foxwoods Casino on Friday night: These two heavyweights have a habit of punching people’s lights out.
It didn’t take too long for one of them to deliver on that promise, either. Mitrione dropped Lewis with a right hand to the jaw (his forearm also connected a split second later) in the first big exchange of the fight, followed up with a couple dozen uncontested punches on the ground, and got the victory at UFC Fight Night 50.
The fight was waved off at the 41-second mark. Mitrione improved to 8-3, with seven of his wins via KO/TKO.
Lewis (11-3, 1 NC) had openly campaigned for the fight on Twitter, and after the fight, Mitrione admitted that was all the fuel he needed.
“I was highly offended when he called me out by name like that,” said Mitrione. “Maybe it’s a call to him to be a little more classy and bring him the right way.”
Mitrione’s seven knockout wins in the UFC ties him for the second-most in UFC history along with four other fighters. Cain Velasquez leads with nine.