For about two minutes, Alexey Oleinik had Derrick Lewis exactly where he wanted him. Midway through the first round, Oleinik brought Lewis to the ground with a single-leg takedown, locked in one of the archaic submissions he uses so effectively – a scarf hold neck crank – and started squeezing with all his might.

Not a great position to find yourself in, to put it mildly. Lewis found himself on his back, with one of the most prolific submission artists in heavyweight MMA history – a man literally nicknamed “The Boa Constrictor” – trying to pop his head off like a champagne cork. But Lewis didn’t seem bothered at all. He chilled on his back for a while, subtly turning his head towards Oleinik’s body to alleviate some of the pressure, and waited until the Russian gave up trying to neck crank a Golem from Pokemon.

The round ended. Lewis walked back to his corner, where he evidently decided that he had had enough of this nonsense. When referee Herb Dean signaled the start of the second round, Lewis strolled up to Oleinik and landed a jumping knee, a right hook, then 23 unanswered punches on the ground. It was Lewis’ 11th knockout win inside the Octagon, a UFC heavyweight record.

And just like that, eternal contender Derrick Lewis might once again be staring down a UFC heavyweight title shot. But can he go all the way?

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Derrick Lewis is 6-foot-3 and generally weighs in at the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds. He’s not cut. He doesn’t fight at a fast pace, has a questionable gas tank, and doesn’t really do much else other than walk around and throw punches and knees.

And yet, Derrick Lewis has been one of the most successful and prolific heavyweights in the world since he entered the UFC in 2014. You can keep Derrick Lewis at bay with superior technique and look like you’re on cruise control to a decision win. Then, all that good work can be undone when he murders you with one big shot, as Alexander Volkov learned in October 2018.

I can’t even say Lewis is a particularly great striker or anything, although he is of course extremely dangerous. Fighters with really elite standup, or just ones with crazy chins, have been able to do him in. Iron-jawed kickboxing legend Mark Hunt managed to avoid or shrug off Lewis’ most dangerous shots in June 2017 before TKOing him in a fight that resembled a scene from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. Former champ Junior dos Santos, who possesses some of the best pure boxing of any heavyweight in MMA history, himself withstood a few big punches before knocking him out early in the second.

But standing with Lewis is an incredibly dangerous proposition. Every exchange carries with it the fear that you could be killed with one shot. Cameroonian top contender Francis Ngannou, himself a knockout artist with humongous one-punch power, was afraid to really engage with Lewis when they fought in July 2018, leading to a unanimous decision win for the American in an incredibly boring fight.

Lewis isn’t well-versed in grappling, but he’s an incredibly effective anti-grappler because of his strength and his grasp of basic technique, which shouldn’t be ignored. You might be able to take him down, but good luck holding him down. You might be able to threaten for a submission, but good luck actually tapping out a guy whose neck weighs 53 pounds. And yes, while Daniel Cormier managed to control Lewis with his wrestling and submit him with a rear naked choke in their title fight two years ago, Daniel Cormier is a former Olympian and one of the greatest heavyweight wrestlers in MMA history. There aren’t many Daniel Cormiers out there.

If you’re a wrestler or a grappler – particularly a more mortal, non-Cormier type – what are you supposed to do against a man who, if you can take him down and get a dominant position, might just stand up and toss you aside like you’re a child? What do you do when a guy with the size and unholy raw strength of Derrick Lewis just decides that grappling isn’t real and does whatever he feels like doing?

This is the question that Derrick Lewis has posed since he entered the UFC heavyweight division in 2014. Guys have answered that question in the past, but there’s not that many of them standing in Lewis’ path to the top.

Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic are set to finish their epic trilogy for the heavyweight title this Saturday night, and Cormier has made his intentions to retire after the fight clear. Ngannou, who has reeled off four straight knockouts in less than a minute and a half, appears to be next up for a shot at the belt. That leaves Lewis and Curtis Blaydes unaccounted for near the top of the UFC heavyweight rankings, and both have expressed interest in the last few days in fighting each other.

Blaydes is 14-2, with both his losses coming to Ngannou by TKO. A former junior college national champion, he’s a driving, powerful wrestler with a great double-leg takedown and some striking acumen of his own. He’s a really, really good fighter. But it also feels like a winnable fight for Lewis: no one short of Cormier has been able to really put Lewis on the mat and keep him there, and the Ngannou fights have shown that you can put Blaydes away with a big shot. Lewis would most likely be first in line for another look at the belt with a win.

Cormier’s pending departure, win or lose, will eliminate one fighter who was able to handle Lewis from the equation. Miocic, with his powerful hands and elite wrestling, is an incredibly tough matchup for anyone at heavyweight, but we haven’t seen him vs. Lewis as of yet. And if the title finds its way to Ngannou in the coming months… well, we’ve seen Lewis beat him before, but something tells me that Ngannou won’t be quite as gun-shy this time around. Of course, that could work in Lewis’ favor.

What we do know is that Derrick Lewis is once again looking up the rankings at the heavyweight division’s tip-top. We know that his physical characteristics are going to make him incredibly difficult for anyone to beat. I don’t know about you, but I can foresee a world where Lewis lands a big right hand against Curtis Blaydes, then maybe another against Stipe Miocic, and somehow ends up with a heavyweight title. Do I think that’s especially likely? I’d give it maybe… 20 percent, ish.

But I know for a fact that right after he gets that belt put around his waist, he’ll probably cut a promo about how his balls are hot and he needs to take a shit. You gotta love the guy.