UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis picked up a fourth-round TKO victory in his first main event appearance on Friday -- but did not look too happy about it.
Lewis (17-4) finished off Shamil Abdurakhimov (17-4) with punches on the ground at 3:42 of the fourth round. The heavyweight bout headlined UFC Fight Night at Times Union Center in Albany, New York.
The win extended Lewis' win streak to five, but it was a slow-paced, ugly affair. Lewis, of Houston, acknowledged as much afterward.
"That was one of my [most] terrible fights of all time," Lewis said. "I didn't like my performance at all. I knew it was a five-round fight and I wanted to pace myself, but that was some bulls---."
Lewis' only effective moments came in the final sequence, after he took a tired-looking Abdurakhimov down and easily passed his guard into full mount.
Prior to that finish, Lewis loaded up on single-shot haymakers and threw a puzzling amount of kicks, which Abdurakhimov frequently caught and turned into takedowns. The Dagestani heavyweight converted four total takedowns and actually out-landed Lewis in total strikes 92 to 36, according to FightMetric.
In the second round, Abdurakhimov connected on a right hand to Lewis' left eye. The eye clearly bothered Lewis the rest of the frame and in between rounds. He asked his cornerman to flush it out with water before heading into the third.
That injury may have contributed to Lewis' slow start, but he refused to pin all the responsibility there.
"He got me in the eye and I'm still seeing double," Lewis said. "But that was some bulls--- on my part, I should have kept my hands up.
"I was gonna [call out] Mark Hunt or Travis Browne, but this performance right here is some bulls---. I'm gonna sit my ass down."
Lewis has recorded stoppages in four of his five consecutive wins. The only bout to go the distance was a split decision win over Roy Nelson in July.
