UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis has opened up about his loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC 265 in August. Against Gane, Lewis failed to secure the UFC heavyweight interim title, losing via TKO in the third round. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Lewis revealed that the stress and pressure of performing in front of a home crowd in Houston got to him before and during the fight.
“I don’t even want to experience that ever again. It was too much pressure, too much pressure. Too much. To the point where I really was calling people up, let me get some weed off ‘em so I can relax my nerves during fight day. That type of pressure.”
Derrick Lewis “Embarrassed” By Hometown Loss to Ciryl Gane
The only time, he says, that he felt that much pressure was before going to court. Lewis faced jail time for aggravated assault in his youth, and was sentenced to five years behind bars. He served three and a half years of his sentence, and in a stunning coincidence revealed that the Gane fight coincided with the anniversary of his release.
“Never felt it that bad. Actually, before court. Before I went to court, before they gave me some time to go to prison. That’s the other time I felt so much pressure, but other than that it was the Houston card. It was pretty bad as well.
[UFC 265] was the same day that I got out, the same day I fought. It was, like, 13 years to that day, it was the same day I was released. So I put a lot of pressure on myself as well because it would have made a great story.
From the worst of times to the best of times.” Of course, the story did not unfold that way, and ultimately “The Black Beast” left the arena feeling embarrassed.
“I don’t think it was like a weight lifted. Just real embarrassed. I felt embarrassed to fight. Felt embarrassed, I felt like I should have did a lot more than what I did. I was gun-shy the whole fight. I didn’t want to pull the trigger and I was too stationary. It’s a lot of stuff.
I could go on and on about a lot of things that I should have done different in that fight, but it just didn’t happen, so you’ve got to just move on and just better myself. If that time comes again and we face each other again, it will be a different outcome, I believe.”
Lewis will return to Houston to fight Australian heavyweight upstart Tai Tuivasa at UFC 271 in February. Will the pressure get to him again? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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