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Veteran Referee Says Derrick Lewis Will Never Become the UFC Champion

Published 12/23/2021, 7:30 AM EST

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Derrick Lewis is one of the most dangerous men in the UFC roster and holds the record for the most knockouts in UFC’s history. He is the number 3 ranked fighter in the UFC heavyweight rankings and wants to win the title. However, John McCarthy doesn’t think that will ever be the case.

‘The Black Beast’ is freshly coming off a devastating win. He took on a fellow heavy hitter in Chris Daukaus and took little time to dispatch his opponent. He lit up Daukaus with some heavy strikes and won it in the first round via knockout. After an impressive win like that, Lewis is back in the title picture. But McCarthy doesn’t believe he has the abilities to win the heavyweight title.

Talking about it on his podcast, he said, “First off, he’s not glorified. Let’s just be honest, he’s not glorified in any fashion. He is a gatekeeper, though, because he’s been given two title shots.”

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“He had the one against Cormier, he lost that one, he had the interim one against Ciryl Gane, he lost that one. Look, he can fight. He’s tough. He’s got certain aspects of the fighting game that he is incredibly powerful at. His ground-and-pound is mean.”

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“He is super-strong, but technical guys are going to give him fits, so is he ever going to be that guy that’s going to be the champion? I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s got that. If you’re the UFC, you’re saying, If you can beat Derrick Lewis, you’re in this upper tier of the guys that we’re going to think about putting in title fights. If you can’t, it’s saying something about you.”

Derrick Lewis doesn’t want to fight five rounds

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The Black Beast‘ doesn’t want to fight any more five-round fights. During the post-fight interview after his latest victory, while talking to Michael Bisping, Lewis made it very clear he didn’t want to fight five rounds. Even if he got a title fight next, he would love for the UFC to make it a three-round fight.

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During the post-fight press conference, Lewis focused on the point once again. When asked if he would want to fight Stipe Miocic next, he said, “It doesn’t matter who it is, I don’t care. If it’s three rounds, I get Stipe… No, no, no, three rounds. If you see my name, they said, oh Derrick fighting main-event. I’m going to say I’m hurt, or I got COVID or something like that. I’m not showing up to the fight.”

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Derrick Lewis is definitely one of the most devastating and also one of the funniest fighters on the roster. Do you agree with John McCarthy’s opinion? Let us know in the comments!

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Written by:

Arunaditya Aima

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Arunaditya is a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. Having completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Multimedia Journalism from IIJNM, Arunaditya aspires to be an important voice in the world of MMA and interview the likes of Jon Jones, Conor McGregor, Amanda Nunes, and other such superstars of the sport. He has followed the sport for over a decade and is an ardent fan of Georges St-Pierre, who he believes is the greatest of all time.
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