UFC star Derrick Lewis shocks with new slim physique ahead of must-win fight against Sergey Spivak

UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis looks like he’s in the best shape of his career ahead of a must-win fight against Sergey Spivak.

‘The Black Beast’ is currently preparing to headline UFC Vegas 68 on February 4 at the APEX in Las Vegas and has clearly been training hard.

UFC lightweight prospect Terrance McKinney recently shared a photo on social media that showed Lewis looking considerably slimmer than ever before.

“Derrick Lewis looks like he’s ready for welterweight,” McKinney captioned the image taken during a strength and conditioning session with Chris Hernandez.

The 37-year-old has always been one of the bigger guys at heavyweight and more often than not he actually cuts weight to make the 265lb UFC limit.

However, that seems like it won’t be necessary next month as serious changes to his diet and training appear to have been made following a dip in form.

Lewis holds several big wins over the likes of Francis Ngannou, Curtis Blaydes, Alexander Volkov, and Chris Daukaus but has lost three of his last four fights.

Sergei Pavlovich, Tai Tuivasa, and Ciryl Gane have all picked up a recent stoppage win over the man who holds the record for most knockout victories (13) in UFC history.

Lewis was hoping to get his career back on track before the end of 2022 as he was originally scheduled to fight Spivak at UFC Vegas 65 in November.

Unfortunately, the fan favourite fighter was pulled from the card after being rushed to hospital due to a ‘stomach issue’ that was ‘not related to COVID-19 or weight cutting.’

Lewis wanted to fight even after his hospital visit but the main event scrap was cancelled and replaced by a light-heavyweight fight between Ion Cutelaba and Kennedy Nzechukwu.

Luckily, it was quickly rescheduled for early 2023 and the extra time to prepare has seemingly been a blessing for Lewis who looks to be in career-best shape.

He’ll need to be against Spivak who is starting to look like a genuine contender after winning five of his last six fights against the heavyweight elite.

The 27-year-old has bounced back from the only blip on his recent record – a TKO defeat to Tom Aspinall – by stopping Greg Hardy and Augusto Sakai in consecutive fights.