Derrick Lewis loses again... It might be time to consider retirement

Derrick Lewis has seen a pretty terrible downward spiral since 2021. There was a time when he looked as though he could be heading towards a title shot but all of that was shut down badly by a mixed bag of results prior to 2021 and then afterwards all bad news that got even worse when he was finished before the end of regulation time for the 3rd time in a row, this time against relative newcomer Sergey Spivak.

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This has all been a bit disappointing to fans of the heavyweight division because Derrick was always a fan favorite. He had just the right mix of being a bit of a terror in the octagon with vicious strikes and also was a very likeable, funny and charismatic person. This doesn't change a great deal when it comes down to win/loss ratio... Just ask Roy Nelson. Being someone that the crowd loves to cheer for doesn't mean a lot when your hand doesn't get raised in victory for years.

He set a record in the heavyweight division a few years back by getting 13 KO's and scoring victories over the likes of Gabriel Gonzaga, Curtis Blaydes, and Roy Nelson. He also won over the fans' hearts by having hilarious post-fight interviews where he would say crazy things such as calling out Ronda Rousey.

His last 3 fights seem to be a road to retirement though and he hasn't made it out of the first round in a while. He was KO'd back to back by Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich - both of whom finished him in under one minute. Seeing him submitted in around 3 minutes to Spivak was kind of tragic to anyone that has enjoyed his career and this loss will likely see him eliminated from the top-10 in the heavyweight division - a division that is soon going to be completely overshadowed anyway by the addition of Jon Jones in the next few months.

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Derrick may want to consider retirement at this point because if history has taught us anything about the booking process in UFC, he will likely only have one purpose henceforth and that is to set up younger up-and-comers to move up in the ranks. He will be "used" by Dana White to propel the careers of others at the expense of his own legacy. It's happened many times before and I hope he has the presence of mind to realize that his path is almost certainly the same.

Once you get pushed out of Pay-per-views and relegated to headlining minor event like UFC-Vegas, if you don't win, you will be relegated to undercards if you manage to get events at all from that point forward. This has been the case with virtually everyone who has come before. There are very few older fighters that have suffered 3 consecutive losses, pretty bad losses at that, and managed to make a return to form.

I really like the guy, and so does a majority of the rest of the UFC fanbase, but it remains to be seen what "The Black Beast" has in his plans for the future. He didn't retire in-ring over the weekend, nor has he even mentioned it. He dodged such questions from the press in the post fight interviews.

It is estimated that Derrick has a net worth of over $1.5 million, and this is a lot better than many aging UFC fighters even though it doesn't seem like a lot when you compare it to other sports, even other martial art sports. This could be a good reason why Derrick may NEED to continue and this will be tragic to see if the UFC decides to use him as a stepping stone.

There are a lot of tough decisions coming up for Lewis and his team. Let's just hope they make the correct ones.