While it may have taken a personal request from President Trump to convince Dana White to place Derrick Lewis on the UFC Freedom 250 card on June 14, doubts over the charismatic heavyweight have continued to linger. With more than a few fight cancellations over his long UFC career and him already pushing past 41 now, there is some validity to those concerns. However, those skeptics may want to listen to how the veteran carved out a place for himself despite dealing with a debilitating medical issue.

With less than 10 days left before the historic event, where Lewis faces a young, hungry, and undefeated Josh Hokit at the White House, ‘The Black Beast’ opened up to UFC commentator Jon Anik in an interview, revealing how he has dealt with back pain that kept him constantly on the edge.

“One of my downfalls I had for my whole career is almost my back,” Lewis confessed on UFC’s YouTube channel. “I’ve been having back issues. It’s like I believe that I really got it down dialed down now because the last fight was because I cut all that; I had cut a lot of weight. I didn’t really walk around to where I usually fight. It’s supposed to be 265. So, right after I made weight, I gained; I went all the way back up to 296. And so, I gained way too much weight too fast. And so, it hurt me in my last fight, and I had back issues the whole time.

“Also, one of the reasons why I pulled out of a lot of my fights before the day of the fight is because I gained that weight back and ended up hurting my back.”

There have been quite a few recorded instances in which Derrick Lewis has pulled out of fights at the last minute, with the most recent one being against Jhonata Diniz at UFC Edmonton in November 2024, where the reason for his last-minute pullout, despite making weight, was cited as a “non-weight cut related medical issue.” While it can’t be confirmed that that particular pullout was due to his back issues, there are other cancellations that were directly attributed to the same.

At UFC 216 vs. Fabricio Werdum in October 2017, Lewis pulled out of the fight just hours before the fight due to a lingering back injury that flared up at the last minute. Just months before the bout in June, he had lost his fight to Mark Hunt by TKO after his lower back severely tightened and locked up in the middle of the match.

He was reportedly taken out in a wheelchair, and it took him around 2 days before he could start feeling normal again. Later, he underwent a series of treatments and even travelled to Germany for stem cell treatment in an attempt to address the issue.

Months later, heading into the February 2018 fight against Marcin Tybura, Lewis paid close attention to his medical team’s advice regarding stretching and warming up to keep the back muscles loose.

“The back is something that’s going to be there for a while. Either I can work through the pain or I can’t, so basically I’m just going to work through it,” Lewis acknowledged at the time.

Despite the challenge, Derrick Lewis continued to forge a career in the UFC, securing a win over Francis Ngannou before later falling to icon Daniel Cormier, all while dealing with back pain that has plagued him for close to a decade.

Lewis’ grind also puts into focus the fighters who managed to build careers despite suffering from back and spinal injuries.

The UFC veterans who fought through broken bodies

Most notable among them is Cormier. The former two-division champion famously dealt with chronic back issues during the final years of his career. He underwent a critical back surgery in late 2018 after a ruptured disc left him struggling to walk. Speaking about the issue later, Cormier admitted he should have retired immediately after the procedure.

A more recent example could be that of bantamweight champion Petr Yan. The Russian fighter was sidelined from active competition following a lumbar spine issue that required surgery to repair lingering structural damage in his lower back.

There are several other examples of elite-level fighters resuming their careers despite suffering back injuries.

Yet there are also instances where promising careers were cut short because of spinal and back injuries. The most notable is three-time UFC title challenger Kenny Florian. The Westwood, Massachusetts native decided to retire in 2012 after suffering a severe herniated disc in his lower back during a training session the previous year. He was barely 36 at the time.

Another example is former interim UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin, who decided to retire after suffering serious back and neck injuries that ultimately brought an end to his career despite multiple surgeries.

Seen in that context, Derrick Lewis still being willing to take risks, that too on the biggest stage of his career against a rising prospect like Josh Hokit, only further highlights his toughness as a fighter who, despite a recent loss, still chose to compete on a show of such historic importance.