When you think of the best fighters in the world and the divisions that produce the best fights, there's a reason why they tend to congregate around the middle of the weight classes. As most adults fall into a fairly similar range, it makes sense that the talent pool will be deeper around welterweight than at either heavyweight or flyweight.

Because of this, those two divisions – heavyweight and flyweight – center around a less varied, more specialized set of attributes. At welterweight, for example, the top guys include Kamaru Usman, Gilbert Burns, Stephen Thompson and Jorge Masvidal; all wildly different fighters in style, tactics, tempo and more.

At featherweight, where everybody averages around 5'4" and 125 lbs, nobody hits too hard or is too strong, so the key is being fast. At heavyweight, where the average is around 6'3" and 245 lbs, you have to hit like dynamite or be able to pull up tree with your grappling in order to make a dent.

The main event of UFC Vegas: Blaydes vs. Lewis, the second of three ranked heavyweight bouts in February, pitted deforestation wrestling against explosive punching. No. 2 Curtis Blaydes is a former NCAA champion wrestler who has the record for most takedowns completed in a fight with 14. #4 Derrick Lewis held the record for most knockout or technical knockout wins in UFC heavyweight history with 11 – including his fights outside the UFC, that number rises to 20.

As Francis Ngannou has next against champion Stipe Miocic, and Jon Jones is all but guaranteed a shot at the winner of that, this bout was a de facto eliminator to see who will face the winner of next week's Jairzinho Rosenstruik and Cyril Gane. Which is to say the title is out of reach for all of this month's contenders – including last week's winner Alexander Volkov – however victories will make a definite impact by the end of this year.

That said, the actual biggest impact of the year may have been the climax of this bout. It ended 1:26 into the second round, however, the whole fight to the point went one particular way. Lewis stood totally still in the center of the cage Yoel Romero-style, while Blaydes bounced around, light on his feet, circling and dipping in and out.

Lewis caught him once with a right and Blaydes suddenly became a lot cagier. Gone was the circling, in were feints and only slight back-and-forths; in those first 30 seconds, he was incredibly mobile, now he was moving like a Street Fighter character's idle animation.

It was over two minutes before the engaged again and it was a similar routine. Blaydes laid into Lewis with fast, if very simple, boxing combinations, Lewis went for his heavy right uppercut. Lewis' commitment to being a counter-puncher was backed up by his sloppy aggression. A couple of kicks went nowhere near Blaydes so he gave it up and returned to waiting for Blaydes to engage.

By the end of the first round, the only change was in their position. Blaydes had smartly circled around Lewis enough to take the Octagon center and force his opponent's back against the wall. It didn't matter much: Lewis still refused to engage, Blaydes outboxed him but the combinations didn't last long due to how hard Lewis hits.

An eye poke in the final 10 seconds halted Blayde's first attempt at grappling and the mistake is something he may rue with hindsight. He attempted the get his wrestling game going at the start of Round 2, only with the 60-second rest period between rounds, Lewis was now way more fresh and defended well.

The second time Blaydes tried it, Lewis had him timed and caught him clean on the chin with the right uppercut he'd been attempting from the very start. It knocked Blaydes spark out; worse, Lewis got him with two more blasts in the seconds before referee Herb Dean could stop the fight. It send Blaydes lying stiff as a board, unconscious, for several minutes

Lewis officially bills himself as a brawler and these undeniable. His striking is sloppy, his defense is based first and foremost on his granite chin and he doesn't seem to have a ground game at all. And yet, thanks to flattening one of the scariest men in the heavyweight division, he now holds the record for most knockouts in the UFC. Whoever is next will underestimate him at their own peril.