Derrick Lewis believes he is only just now coming into his prime, ahead of his UFC St Louis headline bout against Rodrigo Nascimento.
‘The Black Beast’ takes on ‘Ze Colmeia’ at the top of the bill this Saturday (May 11) in a Heavyweight bout at the Enterprise Center, St Louis.
Ahead of the contest, Lewis sat down with the media to give his thoughts on the upcoming contest, admitting he is more excited about the Nascimento bout, than he has been for any other fight. He said:
“I'm feeling good about it. I'm more excited about this fight, than any other fight I ever had. You know, I train my butt off for this one and I don't have no injuries coming into this fight. I'm feeling healthy. Less than 10lbs away from making my weight already. Usually I'm like 15lbs , 20lbs before weigh in. And so I'm less than 10lbs right now.”
When questioned as to why he felt this way, Lewis revealed that it has less to do with the man standing across the octagon from him, but more the way he feels heading into the bout. Lewis even went as far as to say that now, at the age of 39, he feels he has finally hit his prime and feeling better than he has for a long time.
“It’s just how good I'm feeling. I'm feeling great right now. Everything, I actually really feel like this is my prime. Whenever I was in my twenties, early thirties or what, I didn't feel this good. And now I'm feeling like, fantastic right now.”
Lewis is currently 1-4 from his last 5, dropping a decision loss to Jailton Almeida in November of last year. Discussing the bout, Lewis revealed he had suffered a litany of issues heading into last fight, including a nasty injury to both shoulders which resulted in ‘The Black Beast’ struggling to either of his arms effectively. Lewis knows how important a big win for him would be on Saturday night and is ready to re-enter the win coloumn.
“(It is) Very important because I felt like I came in in great shape for that fight. The only thing that was bothering me, I tore both of my shoulders the week before to fight. Like after signed, I say, Yeah, accept the fight, then a few days later, I tore both of my shoulders doing stupid jiu jitsu drills. My rollercuffs went on both sides, so I couldn't really push off or throw a punch.
“And even the throwing uppercut, it hurt. It. And the week of the fight on that Monday I had two ear infections in my left ear and my right ear at the same time and I didn't get over that until like three weeks after the fight.”
You can watch Lewis’ full media day interview below:
