Daniel Cormier chokes out Derrick Lewis to retain heavyweight title at UFC 230

The double champ’s first UFC heavyweight title defense couldn’t have gone any more according to plan if he’d scripted it out with help from his opponent. 

Daniel Cormier took Derrick Lewis down, roughed him up on the mat, then locked him in a rear-naked choke to force the submission finish midway through the second round. What’s more, Cormier hardly took any damage in the process, using his wrestling to nullify Lewis’ power before exploiting his weaknesses on the mat to get the submission at the 2:14 mark of Round 2.

The bout served as the main event of UFC 230 from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main card aired on pay-per-view, with prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Cormier’s strategy in the fight was more or less exactly what most people expected, and the challenger Lewis proved unable to do a single thing to stop it.

After fending off some early attempts at strikes and even a head kick from Lewis, Cormier nabbed a takedown with relative ease up against the fence, then spent most of the round softening Lewis up with strikes on the mat or putting him back down after he worked to get up.

This did not appear to fluster Lewis, who had to expect that Cormier would look to put his wrestling to work. But as the fight entered the second frame the takedowns only came easier as Lewis found less and less room to open up with his powerful punches.

After trying for a single-leg early in the second, Cormier kicked Lewis’ standing leg out from under him, dropping him to a seated position with a thud. Lewis scrambled to get up, only to get ankle-picked from a front headlock position by the agile Cormier, who again seized an advantageous position on top.

As soon as Lewis exposed his back in an effort to get up again, Cormier pounced, snatching Lewis’ neck in a rear-naked choke and squeezing for the finish.

The win brings Cormier his first title defense as UFC heavyweight champion, and his third straight victory since a no-contest with Jon Jones at UFC 214 last July. Lewis’ loss snaps a three-fight winning streak.