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Heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis is presenting a strong case to becoming the next household name in the UFC.
Arguably, the UFC‘s current heavyweight division has been lacking that star power Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture and Cain Velasquez had during their time. However, the promotion may not need to look no further as it is becoming more and more apparent that Derrick Lewis has one.
He got the charisma
Reigning UFC champ Francis Ngannou has been doing quite alright but the thing is, he only electrifies the fans when he knocks guys out cold inside the cage. Outside of it, Ngannou is a bit dry. And that is something Derrick Lewis can offer, on the other hand.
Lewis' gestures and behavior outside the octagon is truly entertaining. Atop that, he's also not afraid of doing crazy things such as hitting on UFC legend Ronda Rousey after knocking out her boyfriend Travis Browne.
On the flip side, the UFC also described Lewis as “a deeply private man whose skills inside the UFC Octagon have made him a cult figure in the mixed martial arts world.” Interesting, right?
He has some serious KO power
In the heavyweight division, possessing knockout power is a must. In recent times, most heavyweight fighters have relied on their fists during fights and Lewis is one them.
Article Continues Below“I like to knock people out,” Lewis said after his chilling KO victory over Alexander Volkov in 2018. “I get a high off of it. It's a great feeling. It's like the best feeling in the world.”
What's special about Lewis' power is that he's able to hurt his opponents even when he's losing the fight. And former UFC champ-champ Daniel Cormier can confirm that.
“When he hits you, it's different,” Cormier said of Lewis. “I was holding his leg up, and he was punching me, and I had a black eye for three days. That's the power that he has. A guy with his leg up in the air, about to get taken down, and he's just throwing punches defensively because I'm holding him in that position. When he was punching me, I was like, ‘Wow, this dude hits really hard'.”
He's focused
Lewis made history at UFC Vegas 45 this past weekend. After knocking out Chris Daukaus, he became the fighter with the most knockouts in the history of the promotion.
Like most of Lewis' fans, UFC president Dana White was raving about the said feat. However, “The Black Beast” remains focused on his goals and is not being carried away.
“Having the most knockouts in heavyweight history, I guess it’s cool because the sport has been around over 25 years,” Lewis explained. “A guy like me having a record like that compared to all the great guys that came before me, and they couldn’t accomplish what I did, it’s pretty cool if you think about it, but it doesn’t really mean anything.”
“I don’t get paid more just because I’ve got the most knockouts or whatever,” he added. “It’s still pretty cool though. Hopefully one day I’ll be a Hall of Famer of some type, but if not, I don’t care.”
That statement makes Lewis worthy of the biggest fights the UFC could possibly give to a fighter. Because a true superstar knows that winning is more important than anything else.
