The veteran kickboxer has beaten utterly no one of note in MMA.
Maybe it pays to beef with Jon Jones.
Veteran MMA heavyweight Chi Lewis-Parry is in talks to sign with the UFC, according to a report from Amy Kaplan. There’s no word on when his debut would be or whom he’d face if he does join the UFC roster.
MMAJunkie’s Nolan King reported that Lewis-Parry was supposed to headline an LFA show against Jared Vanderaa, but withdrew and has been replaced by Renan Ferreira. Perhaps that’s an indication that something is brewing between the brash Brit and the UFC.
Lewis-Parry has an MMA record of 8-0-2-2 NCs, and the combined current record of the opponents he’s beaten (based on Tapology and Sherdog databases) is 13-42. He most recently won the UAE Warriors heavyweight title with an eight-second KO over Mahmoud Hassan, who came into that contest with a fearsome record of 1-5.
The 36-year-old also is a veteran kickboxer who has competed several times under the GLORY banner, notably beating current UFC heavyweight Maurice Greene by KO. In terms of actual quality of competition in kickboxing, that too is littered with underwhelming records. He was twice scheduled to face Hesdy Gerges in GLORY, but the fight never materialized as he withdrew both times, including one time because he apparently claimed the gloves were too small. A hand injury led to him pulling out of a bout vs. Guto Inocente.
Most notably in ONE Championship, Lewis-Parry was pulled from a matchup with heavyweight champion Brandon Vera, with ONE citing a failure to submit medicals or drug test results. This sparked an expletive-laced rant from Vera. You may be sensing a pattern here.
What Lewis-Parry is known for is his feud with Jon Jones, going as far as to personally confront him at an expo in England.
Your guess is as good as mine as to what merits could possibly justify Lewis-Parry’s inclusion on a UFC roster.