Derrick Lewis Selects Favorite UFC Knockout, Receives Praise From Dana White

Derrick Lewis took sole possession of the all-time UFC knockout record on Saturday night, but he wasn’t overly impressed with the achievement.

“It means something, I guess, because of all the greats that were here before me,” Lewis said at the UFC Fight Night 199 press conference on Saturday night. “But really it doesn’t change anything, because there’s still a lot of other guys that are active and have been doing pretty good as well.

“I preferred to get the win in Houston [at UFC 265] than here in the APEX, so it didn’t really erase anything. I’m still going to be thinking about [the Ciryl Gane loss] late at night.”

Lewis ended Chris Daukaus’ five-bout promotional winning streak in resounding fashion, as he knocked out the Philadelphia-based police officer with power punches 3:36 into the opening round of their heavyweight headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It was an impressive bounceback effort from “The Black Beast,” who fell to Gane in an interim title bout at UFC 265 this past August.

“If you look at the amount of times that he’s been here and the records that he’s broken, it’s impressive,” UFC presidend Dana White said. “He looked good tonight. You could see he was waiting. He was timing those shots and he was ready. He looks pretty lean for Derrick, too. He got in good shape. He said that last fight [against Gane] pissed him off and he wanted to make up for it tonight, and he did.”

Lewis has compiled an impressive list of victims among his 13 UFC knockouts, finishing the likes of Curtis Blaydes, Alexey Oleynik, Alexander Volkov, Marcin Tybura, Travis Browne and Gabriel Gonzaga inside the Octagon. One KO stands out above the rest, however.

“I like the Volkov knockout [at UFC 229],” Lewis said. “That was pretty clutch because I was getting my cheeks clapped that whole fight, and it was good that I came in the last round — and it was a Russian guy, so it was an American going against a Russian, and I love all the Rocky movies. So basically that’s how Rocky used to fight, where he’d get whooped — damn near the whole fight he’d get whooped — then the music starts playing, then his wife starts screaming, then he’d get the knockout. So basically that’s how it was, and it was just perfect.”

Lewis will be an interested observer when Gane squares off against Francis Ngannou in a heavyweight unification title bout at UFC 270 on Jan. 22. As far as the two main event competitors go, the Houston native has a decidely different perspective on each man.

“Ciryl, I guess he’s a good dude. He’s a likable guy,” Lewis said. “I couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Personality-wise, outside of fighting, he seemed like a pretty cool dude. Ngannou, on the other hand, he can kiss my ass. He seems like a d—khead 24/7, so f—k him.”

There is the possibility that the latest surge in COVID-19 cases could provide difficulties for the promotion when it comes to bringing fighters into the country from overseas. That means Lewis could be on deck if for some reason Gane is unable to fight at UFC 270.

“We have tons of concerns going into the end of this year with what’s going on right now,” White said. “Here we are again with college football, NBA, NFL — this guys are all canceling games and shutting down, so what does that mean about travel restrictions and all this stuff? We smoked right through hopefully what’s the worst of it in 2020.

“I’m not worried about it. We’ll figure it out. Tell [Derrick] to keep his phone on.”

For his part, Lewis isn’t too keen on the possibility of another five-round fight, but the financial rewards for a championship bout might be too much to resist.

“We’ll see, man. I guess,” Lewis said. “Damn. I just told y’all I don’t want anymore five rounds, but OK, we’ll see. I want the money. We’ll see. I guess I’ll be ready, somewhat.”