{"id":5269,"date":"2025-07-14T14:28:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T14:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=5269"},"modified":"2025-07-16T09:14:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T09:14:15","slug":"derrick-lewis-just-made-the-ufc-heavyweight-division-interesting-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=5269","title":{"rendered":"Derrick Lewis Just Made the UFC Heavyweight Division Interesting Again"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Jul 12, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, United States; Derrick Lewis (red gloves) fights Tallison Teixeira (blue gloves) in a heavyweight bout during UFC Fight Night at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images <\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Derrick Lewis has often said that he has no interest in a five-round title fight at this point in his career, but the 40-year-old ought to reconsider after stopping Tillerson Teixeira 35 seconds into Saturday\u2019s UFC Fight Night main event in Nashville<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lewis has won three out of his last four fights to re-establish himself as a top threat in the heavyweight division after a three-fight losing streak between 2022 and 2023 threatened his career. As the all-time UFC KO\/TKO leader with 16, Lewis has become one of the most popular fighters in the division. His hilarious post-fight interviews have certainly played a part in his rise as well, as plenty of casual fans tune into his typically nationally televised fights just to see what he has to say afterward.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that the heavyweight division is in near-crisis mode after Jon Jones\u2019 retirement forced the UFC into crowning Tom Aspinall<\/a> as the interim champion at a post-fight press conference in Azerbaijan. Lewis is certainly no Jon Jones, but squaring him up against Aspinall in a prospective title fight after his statement performance on Saturday could be just what the division needs to get the ball rolling again.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Lewis should even be the American who headlines the prospective UFC event at the White House next year against Aspinall, especially because you simply can\u2019t trust Jones\u2019 willingness to fight and his ability to stay clean from one month to the next.<\/p>\n

It should be relatively easy to sell the fight to Lewis, considering the potential payday and the near certainty that a bout between the two knockout artists will end within the first three rounds anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe just about every fight that I\u2019ve lost, I lost it was because I just got tired,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cMy wife will tell you that I hate those losses because I know I was better than those guys in there. I know it would never happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald Trump spoke to Lewis on the phone immediately after the fight, quite literally as the decision was being read, so the presumption is that the knockout king is one of the president\u2019s preferred participants in the White House event.<\/p>\n

\u201cDerrick came over and said where\u2019s the president,\u201d UFC President Dana White said. \u201cI said he\u2019s not here tonight, but he\u2019s watching and I got him on the phone and put him on the phone with him. I have no idea what they talked about\u2014maybe (Lewis) was trying to hook himself up with a fight on the White House fight card.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d say that\u2019s a pretty safe bet. We\u2019ll see how it turns out a year from now.<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jul 12, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, United States; Derrick Lewis (red gloves) fights Tallison Teixeira (blue gloves) in a heavyweight bout during UFC Fight Night at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":5270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[6551,989,6553,5337,6552,1259],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nDerrick Lewis Just Made the UFC Heavyweight Division Interesting Again - Frisco Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a 35-second KO in Nashville, Derrick Lewis may have punched his way into a title shot... and possibly a spot in next year\u2019s rumored White House UFC event.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=5269\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Derrick Lewis Just Made the UFC Heavyweight Division Interesting Again - 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