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.”