Derrick Lewis medically cleared just hours following main event cancellation
Just minutes before the UFC Vegas 65 main card started yesterday, November 19, 2022, we were all informed that our main event between heavyweight contenders Derrick Lewis and Serghei Spivac had been cancelled via undisclosed medical issues on Lewis’ behalf.
Color commentator Brendan Fitzgerald announced on the broadcast that Lewis was suffering from a ‘non-Covid, non-weight cutting issue’, and that he would not be competing in the events headliner.
Instead, light-heavyweight talents Kennedy Nzechukwu and Ion Cutelaba took their place, moving from the co-main event to the three round main event of the evening where Nzechukwu was victorious via TKO in round two.
Derrick Lewis was reportedly hospitalized, and though he hasn’t spoken out on his fight cancellation, he was cleared and released shortly thereafter. It was later understood that Lewis was battling stomach issues in the hours leading up, thus the reason the bout was scrapped and he was hospitalized.
We’re unsure whether or not the UFC aims to keep this match up together, but we can only hope, as a lot of us fans were really looking forward to it. It was to be a good test to see where Spivac was at in his career, and it was also going to be a good test to see if Lewis is still atop the UFC’s heavyweight division.
No. 7 ranked Derrick Lewis came into the bout on a two-fight losing skid, having been defeated by no. 4 ranked Tai Tuivasa and no. 5 ranked Sergei Pavlovich, who are ironically facing one another at UFC on ESPN 42 on December 3, 2022.
No. 12 ranked Serghei Spivac on the other hand was headed into UFC Vegas 65 on a two-fight win streak, having defeated Greg Hardy and Augusto Sakai over his latest two appearances.
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