Derrick Lewis Credits Oleinik For ‘Squeezing The Mess Outta Me’
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Lewis’ second round knockout win over submission specialist Aleksei Oleinik wasn’t without danger, as he admits a first round choke almost had him tapping.
On Saturday night at UFC Vegas 6 (aka UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik), Derrick Lewis strung together his third win in a row and also cinched the record for most knockouts from a UFC heavyweight (11) with a second round win over Aleksei Oleinik. And what a knockout it was (watch it here)!
“The Black Beast” threw a flying knee out of the gate to start the round, slipped a big overhand from Oleinik, and then planted his own monster of a shot right on the jaw of “The Boa Constrictor.” From there it was just a matter of time before Lewis’ ground and pound forced a stop to the fight.
The fight wasn’t without danger for Lewis, though. Oleinik is known as a submission specialist and locked up a couple of mean looking bulldog chokes along the way that Lewis admitted almost had him tapping in a post-show interview with Megan Olivi.
“The last one I did [feel in danger], but I was like nah, I can’t,” Lewis said. “I started to tap because I was starting to gargle and scream like a little girl. So I was like ‘I can’t tap, I can’t go out like that.’ So I just had to wait out the time.”
“I think he’s ranked up there, I give him respect, he’s ranked up there because that little bulldog choke he did on me, it worked pretty good. He squeezing the mess out of me. So it worked pretty good for him.”
“I was snorting, making funny noises while he was choking the hell out of my neck,” Lewis added during the post-fight press conference. “And I was like ‘Damn, I’m making too much noise, I wonder if they can hear it on TV.’ So I can’t tap like that. And I know my kids are watching. They gonna tease me forever.”
We think getting caught talking about ‘taking a s**t’ on live TV might earn him a few more teases.
Lewis stated several times during the media gauntlet back to the locker room bathrooms that he wouldn’t be back until he dropped 15-20 pounds (the bathroom jokes just make themselves), an effort he feels should see him return sometime around December. As for who he’d like to face?
“Curtis Blaydes makes sense,” he said. “Ngannou makes sense. Overeem makes sense. And that’s just about it. We’ll just see what happens next week [at UFC 252: Miocic vs. Cormier] and see who else makes sense after that match.”
I call dibs fighting @Thebeast_ufc @ufc
— Curtis Blaydes (@RazorBlaydes265) August 9, 2020
“That’d be perfect to fight Curtis next. All he’s gonna do is try to grab me and hold me and try to win by decision. He’s not going to try and finish me. If he do try to finish me that’s fine. But I believe I could take Curtis down and punish him on the ground. Yeah, put that on the headline, make that the headline. That’s headlines right there: I’m gonna take Curtis Blaydes down and finish him.”
Blaydes is on his own four fight win streak and currently ranked third in the division, one slot above Lewis. And it’s worth mentioning he seems to have tapped his ability to finish as well. While he’s no record-holding KO artist like Lewis (one more knockout and “The Black Beast” ties Vitor Belfort for most UFC career knockouts overall), two of Curtis’ last four wins come via knockout.
When we see Lewis again, he’ll be ready for the challenge. Leading up to the Oleinik fight he declared himself “Black Beast 2.0.” Another 20 pounds down and could we see 3.0?
“I’ll be a lot quicker, a lot more agile, a lot more aggressive and everything,” Lewis promised.
