I’m not really much of an MMA fan, but I do always tune in when Derrick Lewis is fighting. Hilarious dude with exciting knockouts. From what I have read, he trained in boxing under George Foreman’s tutelage for a while before opting to go the MMA route. George apparently saw a lot of raw potential in him with the big power. My question is what happened between George and Derrick that caused Lewis to stop training with him? And why wouldn’t Derrick stick with boxing if he had potential and obviously prefers to punch over grapple? And with there being a lot more money to be made in top level boxing than top level MMA, I don’t get his decision.
Lewis went to prison. And when he got out, he stumbled onto MMA. And he just liked it more. Lewis has actually made really good money in MMA, mainly due to his activity. I think he made the right decision.
Lewis said on some podcast that boxing was harder and MMA was closer to a street fight so it was more appealing to him.
No kidding? Interesting. I’ll have to try and find this podcast, do you happen to remember which one it was? Thank you for sharing.
Here bro, I think Lewis is much better when there's more weapons to use (Punches, kicks, grappling etc) I doubt Lewis would of gone far in boxing or even Kickboxing I don't think he would take current heavyweights like Rico Verhoeven or Benjamin Adegbuyi.
Lewis probably wouldn't be anything more than a journeyman in boxing, but the same could be said for many heavyweights if they went into MMA.
Lewis would be a journeyman in any other division with his skill set. He's garbage. I don't know how people find him or his act amusing, very sad to see the sport reduced to that.
You say he'd be a journeyman in any other division and you are absolutely right. The thing is he's 265 pounds of pure strength, power and heart which while people might not want to believe it but that can take heavyweights very far as they don't need the technique or cardio as much as lighter fighters do.
Yeah, it's Gane's time. I'd have chose him to beat Stipe before Francis did. Pinpoint accuracy, high volume, power, great Cardio... he's a problem.
Let's not forget the footwork, distance control and a very dangerous ground game. Gane is the real deal in the HW division. He's the next champ and in my opinion he'll be champ for some time. Lewis can obviously land a bomb. It's still Heavyweight MMA. But i would be surprised if Gane loses this. Lewis is just so bad outside of landing a bomb. And Gane isn't as stupid as Blaydes who just ran into a punch.
100% I see so many casuals picking Lewis with confidence here. Gane is levels above Lewis in terms of striking and doesn't make mistakes. No way he loses this. Nice to see I'm not alone in thinking he beats Ngannou, he sees those caveman swings coming from a mile away and wins the fight with the jab.