Derrick Lewis is adamant the only reason he’s facing Daniel Cormier for his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight title this Saturday night (Nov. 3, 2018) at UFC 230 in New York, N.Y., is because “DC” is scared to face Jon Jones a third time.
Read his assessment here.
But that’s just Lewis being Lewis, as Cormier says anything “Black Beast” says has to be taken with a grain of salt, as the hard-hitting big man is known for saying outlandish things. Plus, Cormier says he was never actually offered a trilogy fight against “Bones” before agreeing to face Derrick.
“I was never offered the fight against Jon Jones,” Daniel told reporters, including following his UFC 230 open workout (via MMA Junkie). “Nobody told me to fight Jon Jones. I think Derrick has said it, himself, openly that some of the things (he says) you take with a grain of salt, some of the things you believe what he’s saying. He’s just bull(expletive) on that one.”
After getting the nod on short notice to fight for the 265-pound title, Lewis seems to think “DC” isn’t taking the fight to serious, though the champ-champ says otherwise. This, despite the fact that Cormier has openly-admitted that he only took the surprise title fight due to the opponent being Derrick, a man not known for great cardio.
Still, when it comes down to it, Daniel isn’t blind to what Lewis brings to the table.
“In learning about Derrick Lewis, it didn’t make me think, ‘This is going to be an easier fight,’” Cormier said. “It’s going to be tougher than the general public may believe. It made me understand him knocking out Alexander Volkov (at UFC 229) wasn’t the exception – it was his expectation because he has fought from the very pits of hell, and he scraped his way back up to who he is today.”
Of course, Cormeir is adamant there won’t be any Hail Mary wins happening come fight night, as he will prove to Derrick that in mixed martial arts (MMA) there are levels to the game he’s never even seen yet.
“I’m going to try to rip Derrick Lewis apart,” Cormier said. “There are levels to this fight game. I’ve said that before. I’ve competed at a level above most people for a long time.”
To see the entire “Cormier vs. Lewis” line up for this Saturday night’s action click here.