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.”