Daniel Cormier can take care of The Black Beast and retain UFC heavyweight title

BT Sport 3, 2am Saturday night

Two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier defends his heavyweight title against 'The Black Beast' Derrick Lewis at Madison Square Garden in New York, and at first glance it may seem as if he could be in big trouble.

Lewis is a freakishly strong man and has a huge size advantage. Seeing them side by side and without any prior knowledge most people would pick Lewis in a heartbeat to pulverise Cormier, who stands at just 5ft 11in and has fought the majority of his UFC career at light-heavyweight.

But MMA fans learned all the way back at UFC 1 when 'tiny' Royce Gracie swatted away a series of far bigger guys to take the title that skills beat strength more often than not in the octagon, and Cormier has them in abundance.

Cormier has beaten plenty of top heavyweights before so won't be phased by Lewis's size, and the only person to ever beat him in an MMA fight is Jon Jones, widely regarded as the greatest fighter of all time.

Lewis is a rough and tough brawler with incredible power and if he connects a big punch on DC the fight could be over seconds later. But Cormier has excellent movement, timing and experience and his superb all-round skill set should keep him out of trouble.

Cormier starts as a 1-6 shot so you may have to dig deeper to find a bit of value, but Lewis may not be able to keep up with the pace that DC brings and backing Cormier to win in rounds two or three could be the way to go.

Recommendation
D Cormier to win in round two
1pt 11-4 Ladbrokes, Betfred
D Cormier to win in round three
1pt 8-1 Betfred

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