Derrick Lewis vs. Ilir Latifi – Preview & Matchup Analysis

UFC 247: Jones vs. Reyes is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 8, 2020, in Houston, Texas, USA. In the main event, Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis will take on Ilir “The Sledgehammer” Latifi in the Heavyweight bout. You can view the full UFC 247 card.

In this post, we will break down Derrick Lewis vs. Ilir Latifi matchup. Let’s take look at the fighter’s ages, their height, records, reach, fight stats and more below ⤵

The 39-year-old, Derrick Lewis is coming in with a 22-7-0 (1 NC) record. Lewis will be fighting for the first time since a win via split decision against Blagoy Ivanov at UFC 244: Masvidal vs. Diaz in November.

Latifi, meanwhile, is coming off a KO/TKO loss against Volkan Oezdemir on November 2, 2019 at UFC Fight Night: Shevchenko vs. Carmouche 2 and holds a 15-7-0 (1 NC) record.

Derrick Lewis has an orthodox fighting stance with a 79″ reach. The 41-year-old, Ilir Latifi is an orthodox fighter with a 73″ reach. An orthodox fighter stands with their left side forward and jabs with their left hand, the southpaw fighter is the opposite, southpaw stands with their right side forward and jabs with their right hand. In most cases, orthodox fighters are right-handed, if you are left-handed, then you fight southpaw.

Lewis comes in with 49% striking accuracy, he typically lands about 2.63 significant strikes every minute. His opponent, Latifi fires at 40% accuracy, landing about 2.29 significant strikes per minute. Derrick Lewis also has a 25% takedown accuracy and on average gets around 0.52 takedowns every 15 minutes, compared to Latifi’s 1.85 takedowns and 100% takedown accuracy.

Ilir spent on average 7:25 minutes in the Octagon and Derrick has an average fight time of 9:39 minutes.

This looks like an interesting matchup, at least on paper. UFC 247 is live in , who do you think will win, Derrick or Ilir? Sound off in the comments.

You can view the scheduled UFC 247 fight card, upcoming UFC schedule 2020, and latest MMA news.