UFC 230: Daniel Cormier not fooled by Derrick Lewis' laid-back style
Daniel Cormier presented a picture clearer than a 4K television with his comments to the assembled crowd for Wednesday’s UFC 230 open workouts at Madison Square Garden.
“There are levels to this game,” Cormier, the reigning UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion said. “I am the highest level. I am the A standard. I am what mixed martial arts is made of. Derrick Lewis has a puncher’s chance to beat me on Saturday night. If you have a puncher’s chance to beat Daniel Cormier, then you have no chance at all.”
Afterward, when speaking to reporters, Cormier was far more complimentary of Lewis, who has won three fights in a row and nine of his last 10 – with seven knockouts.
“Derrick Lewis became a millionaire. Derrick Lewis is fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world,” Cormier said. “There’s something different about him and that’s why I know what’s in front of me this weekend. So let him try to trick you guys but pay very close attention to who he really is. He’s a smart guy and he ain’t tricking me.”
Lewis has a unique sense of humor, even as far as mixed martial arts personalities go. He tends to say things that garner tremendous laughs. His laid-back, southern style adds to that bemusing charm as a fighter. What’s true and what’s not true remain a mystery in many things. For example, does Lewis really only train an hour a day like he often says? Is he really just a brawler and not a mixed martial arts fighter, another of his go-to statements?
“I believe he trains harder than that,” Cormier said. “I believe he is not nearly as hurt as he pretends to be when he’s against the side of the octagon.”
Cormier said Lewis has more street smarts than he may let on in interviews with the media. “But I grew up in those same places,” Cormier said. “I can see right through his façade. He’s no a dummy. This guy knows what he’s doing.”
Lewis (21-5, 1 NC) does know how to fight. He’s a heavy puncher with one-shot knockout power. He showed that less than a month ago when after nearly 15 minutes on the wrong side of Alexander Volkov, he knocked him out with 11 seconds left.
“I know y’all don’t expect for me to come in here and try to get some crazy submissions or be real technical,” Lewis said about facing Cormier, one of the best the sport has ever seen, on four weeks’ notice. “You’re going to get what you’ve been seeing, and it’s going to be all heart.”
Lewis delivered a post-fight interview after beating Volkov that assured him a lasting capital letter for his Q rating.
“I think Derrick Lewis won over a lot of people standing in the middle of the octagon in his underwear,” Cormier said of Lewis’ performance at UFC 229.
Among the things he said was that he wasn’t interested in a title fight next. In the immediacy of being beaten up by Volkov, the thought of having to go through another training camp right away for a five-round fight felt daunting and unappealing to the heavyweight.
But things can change quickly in the fight game.
“So when they offered me the money that they offered, then it was like a reset button, ‘OK, yeah I could do this,’’ Lewis said. “And it’s guaranteed, so it’s no sweat off my back, so it’s going to be a real good fight. I’m going to go in there and try to end it real quick. If not and if I lose, that’s fine, I still get the money.”
Cormier also said he doesn’t think Lewis would have been offered this title shot had he not shined on the microphone that night.
“When your Instagram followers jump from 300,000 to 1.4 million overnight, it’s important,” Cormier said. “That’s why people say it’s important to understand the stage that you’re on. He was on the biggest stage in mixed martial arts history and he took notice and he made the most of his moment and he got this title fight.”
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
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