Derrick Lewis still joking, but deadly serious that he can still compete at highest level of MMA

LAS VEGAS — There is a saying in the fight game that has been around for years that a fighter can get old overnight.

When your 38th birthday is only days away and you've lost two in a row and three of your last four, it's going to, at the least, create some whispers that you've reached the end of the line.

For UFC knockout king Derrick Lewis, they've become far more than whispers. His one-time opponent and now UFC broadcast analyst Daniel Cormier suggests that Lewis' days as an elite fighter may have come to an end.

Lewis fights Sergey Spivac on Saturday in the main event of UFC Vegas 68 at the UFC Apex in a critical bout for him. Spivac is a -250 favorite, with Lewis on the buyback at +190.

Cormier, who submitted Lewis in a heavyweight title fight at UFC 230 on Nov. 3, 2018, at Madison Square Garden in New York, said on his ESPN show "DC & RC" that he thinks Lewis' time as an elite fighter has come to an end.

"I’m going to tap in that Derrick Lewis wins the fight," Cormier said. "I think he’s going to knock [Spivac] out, but I do believe that ... I think Derrick’s done at the top. I think Derrick’s absolutely done at the top of the division. I just don’t know if he still can’t knock out No. 10, 11, 12, 13, because I just don’t think those guys are as good as they are."

Lewis was forced to withdraw from a fight with Spivac that was scheduled for Nov. 19 when he got ill, and contracted COVID-19. But he's gotten to a point in his career where he needs a big victory.

Since losing to Cormier, he's basically become a .500 fighter. Including the loss to Cormier, Lewis is 5-4 in his last nine, though not all losses are the same. Lewis has been beaten by Cormier, a two-division champion and a Hall of Famer; Junior dos Santos, a former champion; Ciryl Gane, who would go on to hold the interim heavyweight title and who is fighting Jon Jones in March for the vacant belt; power-punching Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich, who has risen to No. 3 in the rankings and has the look of a future champion.

That's vastly better competition than Spivac has faced. The best opponent by far Spivac has faced is Tom Aspinall, who stopped him in two minutes, 30 seconds, when they fought on Sept. 4, 2021, in Las Vegas.

Lewis has maintained his trademark sense of humor, despite the losing streak. The main card on Saturday begins at 1 a.m. ET because it's a show designed for the Asian market, and Lewis likely won't hit the ring until 3:30 a.m. ET at the earliest.

Asked if that would be a problem, he shrugged it off in his typical style.

"I've thought about it and I used to fight at 1, 2 o'clock [in the morning] whenever I was younger," Lewis said, deadpan. "I was coming out of a bar, though, and I wasn't even getting paid to do it. I used to do that back in the day, so I really don't mind."

Lewis, though, isn't all fun and games. He's looked noticeably slimmer in pictures he's posted online, and he was clearly annoyed by Cormier's comments. In a prior interview, he'd said he didn't think people still took him seriously because of his work ethic.

"I don't blame them, but I guess I've got to prove to everyone that I can go out there and still do this," Lewis said. "I can still be in the Top 5. I don't give a damn what DC says. I seen that bulls***, but I guess you've got to say whenever you've got high cholesterol. F*** him. But yeah, I still feel like I could be in the Top 5."

Lewis was clearly not happy with referee Dan Miragliotta, who officiated his fights with Tuivasa and Pavlovich. There was some controversy surrounding Miragliotta's stoppage of the Pavlovich fight, though Lewis was clearly hurt and in trouble.

He joked that Miragliotta has something against him, but he also knows he's been fighting the elite in the division.

"Man, Dan Miragliotta, whatever his name is, he's got a conspiracy out on me," Lewis said. "The last two fights I've lost, he's been the ref. If he's the ref on this fight, I'm going to be like, 'Nah, I don't want him.' If they put him in the cage, he's going to say, 'Fighter, are you ready?' And, 'Fighter, are you ready?' And I'm going to say, 'No.' We need Herb Dean or somebody up in there. He ain't reffing none of my fights no more. Props to him: He's a great guy, I'm pretty sure, but I don't want him reffing none of my fights."

If he lands at the right time and in the right place, though, the referee won't matter.

Derrick Lewis is the UFC's all-time KO leader for a reason, and Spivac may well learn why on Saturday.