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Heavyweight Derrick Lewis didn’t have to cut weight during UFC 244 fight week.
Derrick Lewis didn’t have to cut any weight in the final days leading up to UFC 244.
The UFC heavyweight contender told ESPN on Thursday that he entered fight week the lightest he ever has. Lewis, who meets Blagoy Ivanov on the main card Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, said he hired nutritionist Louis Giordano ahead of the fight.
“I’ve been in the 260s for the last two weeks,” Lewis said at UFC 244 media day. “That’s the first time ever. Usually, this day, I’m like 285, 290. Then I try to cut everything in one day.”
Lewis, nicknamed “The Black Beast,” said Giordano has helped keep his diet in check while preparing for Ivanov.
“The secret has really been Loutrition,” Lewis said. “I brought the guy in. He’s been living at my house for like two months, making sure I’m eating all my meals and drinking right and keeping hydrated, stuff like that.”
It sounds like Lewis plans to continue working with Giordano moving forward, but he won’t be needed directly after UFC 244, Lewis said.
“I was gonna maintain the diet, but I heard that Popeyes is bringing back the chicken (sandwich) this Sunday,” Lewis said. “So I’m firing him, he doesn’t even have to call me in the morning until the chicken run, then I’ll call him.”
Lewis enters the Ivanov fight on a two-fight skid, which includes losses to former heavyweight champions Daniel Cormier (which was for the UFC title) and Junior dos Santos.