Soulbringer320
27-06-2017, 16:54
Derrick Lewis, 32, had the most human of reactions after fighting Mark Hunt, 43, for four rounds in the main event ofUFC Fight Night 110- he decided he didn’t want to fight anymore. He told Stann that it was a back issue that had driven from the sport, and later revealed he was hoping referee Marc Goddard would stop the fight. However, during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Lewis took it back, calling it a “heat of the moment” decision.
“We’re just hoping that we don’t have to get surgery, because I thought about it a little bit, and it’s not going to be my last fight,” said Lewis, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti (http://twitter.com/shaunalshatti) for MMA Fighting (https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/6/26/15876592/derrick-lewis-decides-against-retirement-it-was-just-heat-of-the-moment). “I’m going to try to get back in there as soon as I can.”
“Two days before [the fight], my back was just real sore. It was real sore and I knew — I was just hoping that I could work through it. I got a massage the day before and it just made everything even worse. And as the fight went on, it was just getting sorer and sorer.
“That was the second time it ever happened in a fight. The first time, I still won in the third round. I knocked the guy out in the third round whenever that happened the first time. And it happened again in the Mark Hunt fight, and it was like, damn, I couldn’t move at all. The best thing I could do was just stand there and just take it, because it couldn’t move anymore.”
Lewis had been on a six fight wins streak, and fought seven times in 20 months, the busiest schedule in the division.
“That’s one of the reasons why I said I wanted to retire,” he said. “Because whenever I go into a fight, I’m already thinking about some evil type stuff, and it was really affecting my household. So I was like, I just need some time off a little bit, try to work on my relationship with my family and stuff like that. And just by fighting all the time like that, it just put me in a bad mood all the time. And it just felt that stepping away for a little bit would be the best thing to do.”
“It was still a good fight though. It was something that I expected, a tough fight. I didn’t want an easy fight, I wanted a tough fight, so I got what I wanted.
“It’s just a learning lesson. Like a lot of people have said, it’s not a bad loss to lose to Mark Hunt, so it’s really like a learning lesson. I know what I need to do to get prepared for my next battle.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY5cBYzOvw8
Lewis will have an MRI on Wednesday, the results of which should make the time table for his return clearer. At present, he hopes to fight in November, and has his eye on Francis Ngannou.
“We’re just hoping that we don’t have to get surgery, because I thought about it a little bit, and it’s not going to be my last fight,” said Lewis, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti (http://twitter.com/shaunalshatti) for MMA Fighting (https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/6/26/15876592/derrick-lewis-decides-against-retirement-it-was-just-heat-of-the-moment). “I’m going to try to get back in there as soon as I can.”
“Two days before [the fight], my back was just real sore. It was real sore and I knew — I was just hoping that I could work through it. I got a massage the day before and it just made everything even worse. And as the fight went on, it was just getting sorer and sorer.
“That was the second time it ever happened in a fight. The first time, I still won in the third round. I knocked the guy out in the third round whenever that happened the first time. And it happened again in the Mark Hunt fight, and it was like, damn, I couldn’t move at all. The best thing I could do was just stand there and just take it, because it couldn’t move anymore.”
Lewis had been on a six fight wins streak, and fought seven times in 20 months, the busiest schedule in the division.
“That’s one of the reasons why I said I wanted to retire,” he said. “Because whenever I go into a fight, I’m already thinking about some evil type stuff, and it was really affecting my household. So I was like, I just need some time off a little bit, try to work on my relationship with my family and stuff like that. And just by fighting all the time like that, it just put me in a bad mood all the time. And it just felt that stepping away for a little bit would be the best thing to do.”
“It was still a good fight though. It was something that I expected, a tough fight. I didn’t want an easy fight, I wanted a tough fight, so I got what I wanted.
“It’s just a learning lesson. Like a lot of people have said, it’s not a bad loss to lose to Mark Hunt, so it’s really like a learning lesson. I know what I need to do to get prepared for my next battle.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY5cBYzOvw8
Lewis will have an MRI on Wednesday, the results of which should make the time table for his return clearer. At present, he hopes to fight in November, and has his eye on Francis Ngannou.