KEY POINTS

  • Derrick Lewis spoke about pressure during UFC 265's media day 
  • "The Black Beast" wants to be Houston's first-ever heavyweight champion
  • Lewis and Gane are set to face for the interim heavyweight title on August 7

The main event of UFC 265 features knockout artist Derrick Lewis and unbeaten phenom Cyril Gane in a fight for the interim UFC heavyweight championship.

Lewis will be fighting in his hometown of Houston, Texas, and the highly outspoken fighter opens up about his feelings going into the bout.

“Thinking it years ago and now really living it, it’s like man what the hell did I say, what the hell was I thinking, it’s a lot of pressure for sure,” said Lewis during the media day for UFC 265. “But I look at it like every other fight I been in. I’ve never been the favorite to win any fight or favored to do anything good really in life. I’ve been a fighter all my life so I guess you can say I really had to get used to this and I believe I have.”

“The Black Beast” first had his shot at the heavyweight strap when he went up against dominant champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 230, where he lost the bout via rear-naked choke in the second round.

UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Volkov, June 26
JUNE 26: Ciryl Gane of France prepares to fight Alexander Volkov of Russia in a heavyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on June 26, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Lewis then lost to Junior Dos Santos in March 2019 but quickly racked up four consecutive wins featuring two second-round knockouts of heavyweight mainstays Aleksei Oleinik and Curtis Blaydes.

“I feel like I deal with the pressure every fight because no one believes in me,” Lewis told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “I always wanna go out there and prove everyone wrong. It’s just me about being in my hometown, that’s where I feel the most pressure because I’m here. I fought here (Houston) last year and I felt pressure, but not as much as I do right now.”

This fight means so much more for the fan-favorite Lewis as history is also on the line.

“Of course, it’s a little [added] pressure because Houston never had a heavyweight champion before so I wanna be the one. I wanna make history and it gotta go down.”

MMA fans quickly gravitated towards Lewis for his down-to-earth personality, and the heavyweight contender mentioned that it’s because he’s one of the realest fighters out there and that he’s “not fake like everyone else in the sport”.

UFC 265 is set to happen this Saturday, August 7, in front of a sold-out Toyota Center in Houston, and Lewis would love nothing more than to make history on that night.

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