Dana White Praises ‘Huge Superstar’ Derrick Lewis Following UFC 271 KO Defeat

In recent months, Derrick Lewis has endured two of the most disappointing losses of his mixed martial arts career in his hometown.

This past August at UFC 265, “The Black Beast” suffered a third-round technical knockout loss to Ciryl Gane in an interim heavyweight title bout at the Toyota Center in Houston. And on Saturday, with a chance for redemption in the same venue, Lewis was knocked out by a devastating Tai Tuivasa elbow in the second-round of their co-headlining encounter at UFC 271.

Despite those setbacks, UFC president Dana White had plenty of praise for Lewis at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“He doesn’t always come up short. I mean, up until tonight he was the No. 3-ranked guy in the world, which is a big deal. He’s got the most knockouts in heavyweight history,” White said. “He went in against a guy tonight who’s on a five-fight knockout streak. He fought a 29-year-old guy tonight. Derrick Lewis is a bad boy, man. He’s been a lot of fun to have in our heavyweight division in the UFC. And obviously very beloved in the town of Houston and around the world. He’s a pretty big star for us.”

Earlier in his career, Lewis didn’t necessarily look like someone who would challenge for UFC gold on two separate occasions. Over time, however, the 37-year-old has become one of the promotion’s most fan friendly and quotable commodities.

“If you looked at Derrick Lewis coming into the UFC, I don’t know if people would have expected him to do what he’s accomplished here,” White said. “He’s become a huge superstar and done some pretty great things.

“He’s made some money and he’s made a nice life for himself. He’s a good human being. He’s one of these guys that when bad things happen he’s out there helping people,” White added. “He’s a big, scary looking dude, but there’s a big heart inside there. We like him a lot and we’ll see what’s next for him.”