Derrick Lewis shared his thoughts on his big win in Salt Lake City after a tough year and a half filled with fight cancellations and multiple defeats.
Derrick Lewis busted back into the win column on Saturday night at UFC 291, knocking out Marcos Rogerio de Lima with a flying knee just 33 seconds into their fight.
After the fast knockout win, Lewis celebrated in classic “Black Beast” style. He dropped to the canvas and snarled like an animal. He stood up, dropped his shorts, and danced around in his underwear (watch the highlights here). It was his first victory in a year and a half, and you could tell he was savoring it.
“There was a lot of pressure coming into this fight, and I just wanted to prove that I’m one of the best in the world,” Lewis said about his performance at the UFC 291 post-fight press conference. “Pressure I put on myself. I finally did everything right, I trained my ass off for 11 weeks straight. I didn’t drink any sodas, that was probably one of the keys to me getting that lil six pack, that’s about it.”
He elaborated on flying knee that cut through de Lima’s guard and landed right on the chin, earning Lewis the win.
“I always wanted to throw a flying knee out of the gate,” he said. “It was perfect timing because he likes to keep a high guard, he doesn’t back up, really. He tries to keep a high guard and wait for you to throw something so he can throw leg kicks or swing his wild hooks. So I just knew that the flying knee or the one-two straight off the bat was gonna be there.”
After going 4-2 over his last six, some may have written Lewis off as a heavyweight title contender. But Derrick still has title aspirations moving forward.
“I believe I do [have a title run in me],” he said. “It was just so crazy and frustrating, me losing to the guys that I lost to. Like there’s no way in hell I should have lost to those guys, so that was one of the reasons why I wanted to train my ass off for this fight because now I got a lot of guys calling me out, and I sure didn’t like that. The last guy that called me out was Curtis Blaydes, and you know what happened there. I don’t like guys calling me out.”
Lewis surprised many by revealing the de Lima fight was the last bout on his current UFC contract. While there’s definitely some opportunities to be had as a free agent right now, “The Black Beast” sounded hopeful he could come to terms with the UFC.
Greatest video I’ve ever filmed from cageside. #UFC291 pic.twitter.com/iR1Noq6bnG
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohn) July 30, 2023
“I’m hoping to stay here in the UFC,” he said. “I like it here, I like the staff … everybody’s cool here except for the media. Y’all dickheads. F— all y’all, I should walk out right now. But y’all go ahead. Next question.”
As for whether his pantless post-fight celebration was planned or spur of the moment?
“Spur of the moment,” Lewis claimed. “My d— got a mind of its own so it do what it wants. Spur of the moment.”
He joked that he’d have to be careful about celebrating too hard following his win in Salt Lake City.
“I’m in Utah so I don’t know what illegal, what I can or can’t do,” he said. “So I gotta be careful out here. I don’t even think there’s black people out here so I don’t know. I probably gotta wait til I get home. S—, for real.”
For complete UFC 291 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.