Derrick Lewis picked up his 12th UFC knockout in February when he stopped Curtis Blaydes at 1:26 mark of the second round of their UFC Fight Night main event contest. The “Performance of the Night” bonus winning knockout made Lewis the most prolific knockout artist in UFC history, moving him one KO ahead of Matt Brown. Lewis sat atop that list until June, when Brown rejoined him there following a second-round knockout of Dhiego Lima.
Lewis, who is currently the No. 3 ranked fighter in the official UFC heavyweight rankings, had the opportunity to pull ahead of Brown in August when he faced Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title.