UFC 291 is a reasonable time for Derrick Lewis to disconnect the series of losses over time. Marcos Rogério de Lima became a victim for Lewis to vent his anger when he took only 33 seconds to win. This TKO victory helped Lewis monopolize the Knock-Out winning record in UFC history, with 14 times.
After the victory of De Lima, Lewis said he would become a free martial artist right after the event. The contract between Lewis and UFC has terminated legally. In theory, Lewis is completely capable of signing a contract with any tournament at the present time such as PFL, Bellator, even ONE Championship.
However, the possibility of Lewis continues to stick with UFC is not small. Dana White has repeatedly affirmed that Lewis is one of the few fighters loved by UFC boss, and wants him to fight for many years. That was what he shared after Lewis had to receive 3 consecutive defeats when encountering Tuivasa, Pavlovich and Spivak.
Derrick Lewis is 38 years old. He owns a 39 professional MMA match, including 27 wins (22 no, 1 submission), 11 defeats and 1 match that does not recognize the results. Lewis has signed a contract with UFC since 2014 and has been with the tournament since then, has been struggling to fight the championship twice but have received defeat.
At the peak, Lewis has defeated many famous boxers such as Alexander Volkov, Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou. But over the past 2 years, Lewis's performance has come down with a series of failures. The match against De Lima was almost the last chance of Lewis and UFC, and he proved himself good enough to continue to stick with the tournament.