Derrick Lewis set a new UFC heavyweight knockout record with his victory over Alexey Oleynik in Las Vegas on Saturday night, before adding to his ever-growing reel of memorable post-fight interviews.
Lewis weathered a solid opening round from Russia’s Oleynik before finishing him with a vicious ground and pound assault 21 seconds into the second round of their Fight Night main event at the UFC’s Apex facility.
‘The Black Beast’ notched an 11th TKO/KO win in the UFC, moving him ahead of Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos for the overall heavyweight record and putting him in a tie for second for the most knockouts in UFC history in any division.
The Louisiana fighter won plaudits for another explosive display in the octagon but also had fans in hysterics for his post-fight interview, where he was inadvertently caught telling his team he needed an urgent bathroom break.
“You have the most knockouts in UFC heavyweight history my friend,” began UFC pundit Paul Felder.
Looking away from the camera and seemingly unaware that the camera was rolling, Lewis uttered “yeah, I gotta take a sh*t man,” before adjusting his headset and saying, “oh, hello.”
Derrick Lewis is Houston royalty pic.twitter.com/pLB5ViVuFT
Felder was amused by the frank admission from Lewis, replying: “We’ll get to that in a second, can you hear me brother?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah,” answered Lewis as the interview finally got going.
The soundbite from the straight-talking Lewis tickled fan and pundits online.
Derrick Lewis is the gift that keeps on giving ? #UFCVegas6pic.twitter.com/0LL27wX5xQ
I’m just here for the Derrick Lewis post fight interview! #UFCFightNight ???
Lewis has past form with post-fight interviews, famously telling Joe Rogan in the octagon after his buzzer-beating victory over Alexander Volkov at UFC 229 back in 2018 that he had taken his shorts off immediately after the bout because his “balls were hot.”
After his last fight, @Thebeast_ufc gave @joerogan a feeling of deja vu ?What does Derrick Lewis have in store for #UFCVegas6? pic.twitter.com/arUl10kqAG
Jokes aside, Lewis is now on a run of three wins on the spin and six in his last eight which could insert him into a number-one heavyweight contender bout.
The Louisiana veteran failed in his previous attempt at heavyweight gold against Daniel Cormier at UFC 230 in 2018, and admitted after his win against submission specialist Oleynik that he wanted to shed around 20lbs from his 265lbs frame before coming back in December.
Speaking on his record feat of heavyweight knockouts, Lewis added at the press conference: “It’s crazy. I still can’t believe that I’ve got the most knockouts. It’s a crazy feeling because of all the great heavyweights before me.
“Watching Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez, all those guys for all those years. Seeing they didn’t accomplish what I did, I’ve just got to stay humble about it.”
For Oleynik – nicknamed ‘The Boa Constrictor’ for his legendary submission prowess – his defeat to Lewis was a setback to the renaissance which had seen him win his last two outings earlier this year.
The Russian veteran’s overall record now stands at 59 wins, 14 defeats and one draw.
