UFC 230 Main Event Change? Daniel Cormier vs. Derrick Lewis Reportedly Planned

The UFC is reportedly planning to add a heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis for UFC 230 next month.

The Madison Square Garden card takes place in New York on Nov. 3 with the last two events at the venue being lucrative and highly-stacked cards. While the upcoming event is also a stacked card, there still isn't a high-profile main event.

The Las Vegas promotion added a women's flyweight title bout between Valentina Shevchenko and Sijara Eubanks to the card last week, which was to be the new main event according to UFC president Dana White, but it wasn't received well at all.

And so, the UFC is still looking for a high-profile title fight and according to ESPN's Brett Okamoto, they have opened discussions over a potential Cormier vs. Lewis headliner.

"The bout is not a done deal, though, and certain hurdles still have to be cleared," Okamoto wrote.

One of those hurdles might be getting Lewis to fight on the card. "The Black Beast" competed this weekend at UFC 229 where he came away with an incredible comeback knockout win over Alexander Volkov with just seconds to go in the final round.

Derrick Lewis gained 513k followers on Instagram and 35k on Twitter over the weekend, according to Crowdtangle.

Talk about seizing the moment. Well done, @Thebeast_ufc.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 8, 2018

His stock definitely rose during and after the contest, particularly in his post-fight interview, and the UFC might be striking while the fire is hot. However, Lewis claimed after the fight that he was not ready for a title shot yet and still needed to work on his cardio, having tired out early on.

In addition, he has been medically suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission until Nov. 6 with no contact until Oct. 28 due to the grueling nature of his contest with Volkov.

However, the chance to fight for the heavyweight title while headlining Madison Square Garden, getting a big payday, and potentially fighting Brock Lesnar afterward with a win could entice Lewis. The UFC could also work their way around his medical suspension.

Cormier was expected to fight Lesnar next, but with the latter only being eligible in early 2019, he could be given the responsibility of saving the UFC 230 main card, though there is no update on his current hand injury.

"DC" notably defeated Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 in July to become just the second simultaneous two-weight champion in the UFC and had outlined his plans of retiring from the sport in March when he turns 40.

The current UFC 230 main card looks like this: