July 13, 2025 • 9 mins
We’re joined by UFC knockout king Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis for a raw and hilarious conversation you won’t want to miss. We talk about his now-legendary post-fight celebrations that have taken social media by storm, and he shares what really goes through his mind in those viral moments. Derrick also reacts to the idea of fighting at the White House and opens up about how much time he has left on his UFC contract.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is a UFC fight week here in Nashville Bridge
Stone Arena, and one of the fan favorites, especially from
me on this.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Show, Derek Lewis, joins us in the studio. Derek, how
are you doing, sir?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
When we saw this fight get announced, I immediately hit
up UFC and I was like, I don't know what
media is happening right now, but Derek Lewis is the
guy that I need in studio for sure. So I
got to ask you, man, you're going into this big
fight this Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
How's camp been going leading up to this fight? Saturday?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Camp been great. We did a lot of things different.
It's camp. You know.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
I started running six miles every day and so I'm
feeling great.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Now here's the deal.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It's kind of a crazy thing because you look at
how long you've been off since your last fight. How
are you feeling having that long of a period of
time off and then you're heading into Saturday. You said
you're feeling great. Anything different this go around for this fight?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Mentally, I'm very prepared. Physically, I'm very prepared, and so
the time off helped a lot, you know, I'm already
I'm forty years old, so you know, I need to
sit down a little bit really think about if I
still want to do this. And so it's perfect timing,
I believe.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Right for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And of course you're going up against the share who
is undefeated, twenty five year old press of six plus
foot you know, first round KO power. Obviously you've got
that as well. What's the game plan without giving too
much to you know, neutralize that youth and reach.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
I'm just really just go forward, you know. I gotta
be inside of my range, not his range, you know,
and just pick them apart from there.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, be aggressive.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
It's definitely gonna be a fun night for sure, Bridge
don AERNI can still grab your tickets ticketmaster dot com.
Now ESPN is predicting a knockout for you, maybe round
one or two. Do you feel the pressure to deliver
a KO or is it more to it that's in
your head?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
No, I believe that every fight that I'm in, I'm
always going to get the knockout. So that's that's what
I'm training for. That's I get in there. That's why
I'm always looking for, is the knockout. I'm not trying
to go to DCS.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, and I think a lot of fans are looking
for that knockout and especially the post match celebration viral moments,
which we'll talk about those here in a little bit.
But you've said at you said that you know, the
moment that the cage door closes, the game plan might
go out the window.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
With UFC Nashville this Saturday.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
What vibe are you bring it pure knockout or should
fans expect maybe like a chess smack mixed with chaos.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
No, you gotta be a knockout. No, I'm not trying
to play no games with this guy.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Absolutely, And I think that's that's one of those things
that a lot of US fans are expecting.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Knockout, first, second round, wherever it's gonna go.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I don't think it's gonna go past that second round
for sure, because we've seen your fights before and you're
gonna hand to share his first loss. We're gonna put
it out there in the universe because we're that kind
of people on this show for sure. Now, one thing
that's that's been interesting and we've seen this, Daniel Cormier
called you the hardest puncher he's ever faced tougher than
John Jones. Right, do you feel that adds pressure, motivation,
(03:04):
or fuel to your training?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Not at all, because I believe I am also. I
always believe that even before I started us.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, And the one thing I tell you, it's never
adul moment when there's a live microphone in your hand postmatch.
I mean you've gone from mooning the crowd, talking about
your balls being hot. You know a lot of things
happen in the moment.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Do you feel like this has now become a part
of your brand and you have to have these viral
moments postmatch or is it just ay it's whatever comes
to my mind.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
No, it's whatever comes to my mind because it's so
much stress, so much stuff against me going into the fight,
and so whenever I finally get the win, and just like,
I turn into a completely different person. So that's why
stuff like that happened. And one hundred percent of the
stuff that I do after the fight, like post fight,
I'm embarrassed of it.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
The next day, I will tell you there's no embarrassment
of that. In my household. I've got an eight year
old who is big into wrestling. We got him into
UFC and I was showing him videos of your fights
and your post matches and everything else in my eight
year old.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I get home yesterday does the same thing. I
was like, what are you doing? He's like, my balls
are hot, and I was like, this is coming from
my eight year old.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So I just want to say thank you from a
parent that now you are, you know, helping out an
eight year old talk trash and just be himself.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yes, it really opened my eyes.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Whenever I went to my kids school and all the
kids that must kid elementary, You're just saying the same thing,
and I'm like, oh my god. So I didn't even
think about that. It's so I'm trying to like to
be like more PG after my fights.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I think it's okay to be a little bit more
than just PG, because I mean, with as much access
these kids have to YouTube and whatever else, I think
it's okay. It's not like I mean, I think back
to when I was a kid, you know, DX was
there saying suck it to everybody and nobody knew what
it was. I think it's okay if a kid's like,
oh my balls are hot. Yeah, yeah, just maybe not
(05:01):
the mooning part to the teacher if they get an
F on their you know, test or something.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It was one of those in the moment situations you
just add to right.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, so you've joked about it that you're too old
and you might sit your ass down soon. Now at forty,
do you still feel like fighting is in the cards
post this Nashville matchup?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah? Fighting.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I would like to finish out my contract. Its fighting
still in the car. I would like to be done
in two years, though, like two or three years max.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Now, when you when you say you're done in the
two years, once you're all said and done, you put
the gloves in the ring, you walk out.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
What's next? What's the plan? Do you want to like
open up your own school? Do you want to just
kind of be dad for a while. What's what's the
game plan after that? Or have you even thought about that?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think about it all the time. Just run my business,
my company stuff, open up, getting a four plex. I'm
trying to open up next week.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Now, one thing that you say, you've got a few
more fights left, do you want to finish out this contract?
You also recently joked that you probably wouldn't be approved
for a fight for the UFC at the White House
card because of your past. Do you want to be
a part of that kind of spectacle And if so,
we'll go ahead and put it out in the universe.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Who would you want to fight?
Speaker 4 (06:23):
It would be crazy. I don't even think that's going
to even happen.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
That was one of those things when I saw it,
I was like, I mean, there's potential that it could happen.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I mean, there's crazier things have been thrown out there.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I really don't matter who I will fight that day,
but there have to be someone that's not from the US,
so I got to be all US versus Russia.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
So I mean, that would be fun.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
And then we would just go ahead and guarantee a
Derek Lewis knockout all for sure?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Now, one thing that I talked about this recently with
Steven Thompson, and you talked about this as well.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Back in twenty.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Eighteen, you challenged and all online troll to spar and
knocked him out in person. Right looking back, do you
stand by challenging people who disrespect fighters online?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (07:08):
For sure, because they don't know what it takes to
get in there. They can say they fire, they fight
training in their garage and stuff like that, but it
takes big balls to get in there to fight another
man that didn't do anything to you in front of
mellions of people. No anything can happen. So it's like
(07:28):
it's crazy that people will even try to do something
like that, and.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It's it's always the keyboard, whereas just the dudes that
are living in their mom's basically like, oh, I could
take on Derek Lewis, Yeah, good luck, good luck lasting.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I don't know, thirty seconds, not even ten seconds.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, it's it's it's gonna be an interesting thing, of course.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Uh Bridge Stone Arena.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
This Saturday, UFC returns main event Derek Lewis and to
share going at it, you know one thing, and I
want to get your thoughts on this because everybody has
been talking about it. John Jones, he's like, hey, I'm retiring,
and then all of a sudden he comes out of
retirement literally a few days later.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
What are your thoughts on this?
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Oh, I don't care. It'd be good if you stay retired,
if you come back, come back. But he don't have
a bell anymore. So he's not holding up the division
like he was in two or five divisions.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So that's good. So he can do whatever you want.
I don't. It don't affect me.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Now, right for sure?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Last question before I let you go, because I know
you got a busy schedule this week, uh, preparing for
UFC Nashville at Bridge Down Arena. By the way, tickets
still available ticketmaster dot com.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
If I was to look at.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Derek's playlist right now, like his music playlist, what is
that one song that.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
We would be surprised to see on your playlist?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Probably Marty Ray Marty Ray, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
No, Chapelone, No, Pink Pony Club.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
No, No, I don't even know who that is.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Well, we'll have to throw some on there.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Seeker here.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It's one of those viral songs that everybody gets down to.
But Marty Ray, Marty Ray, Hunted, Marty Ray hunting. Is
there a specific song hunted? Oh, Marty Raey Hunted, got it? Okay,
that's the name of the I'll have to go listen
to that because I'm not familiar with that one, and
I'm a music guy.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I should know these things. But that's one of those
those surprises.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I'll definitely have to check that out well, Derek before
we let you go, anything you want to say to
people listening to this right now.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Thanks for everyone for the support. You know, I got
a few more fights in my contract. If you always
wanted to see me live, come on with it. So
I'm throwing out memorb barely in the cross after every fight.
It is a UFC fight week here in Nashville Bridge
Stone Arena, and one of the fan favorites, especially from
me on this.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Show, Derek Lewis, joins us in the studio. Derek, how
are you doing, sir?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
When we saw this fight get announced, I immediately hit
up UFC and I was like, I don't know what
media is happening right now, but Derek Lewis is the
guy that I need in studio for sure. So I
got to ask you, man, you're going into this big
fight this Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
How's camp been going leading up to this fight? Saturday?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Camp been great. We did a lot of things different.
It's camp. You know.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
I started running six miles every day and so I'm
feeling great.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Now here's the deal.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It's kind of a crazy thing because you look at
how long you've been off since your last fight. How
are you feeling having that long of a period of
time off and then you're heading into Saturday. You said
you're feeling great. Anything different this go around for this fight?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Mentally, I'm very prepared. Physically, I'm very prepared, and so
the time off helped a lot, you know, I'm already
I'm forty years old, so you know, I need to
sit down a little bit really think about if I
still want to do this. And so it's perfect timing,
I believe.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Right for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And of course you're going up against the share who
is undefeated, twenty five year old press of six plus
foot you know, first round KO power. Obviously you've got
that as well. What's the game plan without giving too
much to you know, neutralize that youth and reach.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
I'm just really just go forward, you know. I gotta
be inside of my range, not his range, you know,
and just pick them apart from there.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, be aggressive.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
It's definitely gonna be a fun night for sure, Bridge
don AERNI can still grab your tickets ticketmaster dot com.
Now ESPN is predicting a knockout for you, maybe round
one or two. Do you feel the pressure to deliver
a KO or is it more to it that's in
your head?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
No, I believe that every fight that I'm in, I'm
always going to get the knockout. So that's that's what
I'm training for. That's I get in there. That's why
I'm always looking for, is the knockout. I'm not trying
to go to DCS.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, and I think a lot of fans are looking
for that knockout and especially the post match celebration viral moments,
which we'll talk about those here in a little bit.
But you've said at you said that you know, the
moment that the cage door closes, the game plan might
go out the window.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
With UFC Nashville this Saturday.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
What vibe are you bring it pure knockout or should
fans expect maybe like a chess smack mixed with chaos.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
No, you gotta be a knockout. No, I'm not trying
to play no games with this guy.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Absolutely, And I think that's that's one of those things
that a lot of US fans are expecting.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Knockout, first, second round, wherever it's gonna go.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I don't think it's gonna go past that second round
for sure, because we've seen your fights before and you're
gonna hand to share his first loss. We're gonna put
it out there in the universe because we're that kind
of people on this show for sure. Now, one thing
that's that's been interesting and we've seen this, Daniel Cormier
called you the hardest puncher he's ever faced tougher than
John Jones. Right, do you feel that adds pressure, motivation,
(03:04):
or fuel to your training?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Not at all, because I believe I am also. I
always believe that even before I started us.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, And the one thing I tell you, it's never
adul moment when there's a live microphone in your hand postmatch.
I mean you've gone from mooning the crowd, talking about
your balls being hot. You know a lot of things
happen in the moment.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Do you feel like this has now become a part
of your brand and you have to have these viral
moments postmatch or is it just ay it's whatever comes
to my mind.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
No, it's whatever comes to my mind because it's so
much stress, so much stuff against me going into the fight,
and so whenever I finally get the win, and just like,
I turn into a completely different person. So that's why
stuff like that happened. And one hundred percent of the
stuff that I do after the fight, like post fight,
I'm embarrassed of it.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
The next day, I will tell you there's no embarrassment
of that. In my household. I've got an eight year
old who is big into wrestling. We got him into
UFC and I was showing him videos of your fights
and your post matches and everything else in my eight
year old.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I get home yesterday does the same thing. I
was like, what are you doing? He's like, my balls
are hot, and I was like, this is coming from
my eight year old.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So I just want to say thank you from a
parent that now you are, you know, helping out an
eight year old talk trash and just be himself.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yes, it really opened my eyes.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Whenever I went to my kids school and all the
kids that must kid elementary, You're just saying the same thing,
and I'm like, oh my god. So I didn't even
think about that. It's so I'm trying to like to
be like more PG after my fights.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
I think it's okay to be a little bit more
than just PG, because I mean, with as much access
these kids have to YouTube and whatever else, I think
it's okay. It's not like I mean, I think back
to when I was a kid, you know, DX was
there saying suck it to everybody and nobody knew what
it was. I think it's okay if a kid's like,
oh my balls are hot. Yeah, yeah, just maybe not
(05:01):
the mooning part to the teacher if they get an
F on their you know, test or something.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It was one of those in the moment situations you
just add to right.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, so you've joked about it that you're too old
and you might sit your ass down soon. Now at forty,
do you still feel like fighting is in the cards
post this Nashville matchup?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah? Fighting.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I would like to finish out my contract. Its fighting
still in the car. I would like to be done
in two years, though, like two or three years max.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Now, when you when you say you're done in the
two years, once you're all said and done, you put
the gloves in the ring, you walk out.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
What's next? What's the plan? Do you want to like
open up your own school? Do you want to just
kind of be dad for a while. What's what's the
game plan after that? Or have you even thought about that?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think about it all the time. Just run my business,
my company stuff, open up, getting a four plex. I'm
trying to open up next week.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Now, one thing that you say, you've got a few
more fights left, do you want to finish out this contract?
You also recently joked that you probably wouldn't be approved
for a fight for the UFC at the White House
card because of your past. Do you want to be
a part of that kind of spectacle And if so,
we'll go ahead and put it out in the universe.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Who would you want to fight?
Speaker 4 (06:23):
It would be crazy. I don't even think that's going
to even happen.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
That was one of those things when I saw it,
I was like, I mean, there's potential that it could happen.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I mean, there's crazier things have been thrown out there.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I really don't matter who I will fight that day,
but there have to be someone that's not from the US,
so I got to be all US versus Russia.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
So I mean, that would be fun.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
And then we would just go ahead and guarantee a
Derek Lewis knockout all for sure?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Now, one thing that I talked about this recently with
Steven Thompson, and you talked about this as well.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Back in twenty.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Eighteen, you challenged and all online troll to spar and
knocked him out in person. Right looking back, do you
stand by challenging people who disrespect fighters online?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (07:08):
For sure, because they don't know what it takes to
get in there. They can say they fire, they fight
training in their garage and stuff like that, but it
takes big balls to get in there to fight another
man that didn't do anything to you in front of
mellions of people. No anything can happen. So it's like
(07:28):
it's crazy that people will even try to do something
like that, and.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It's it's always the keyboard, whereas just the dudes that
are living in their mom's basically like, oh, I could
take on Derek Lewis, Yeah, good luck, good luck lasting.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I don't know, thirty seconds, not even ten seconds.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, it's it's it's gonna be an interesting thing, of course.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Uh Bridge Stone Arena.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
This Saturday, UFC returns main event Derek Lewis and to
share going at it, you know one thing, and I
want to get your thoughts on this because everybody has
been talking about it. John Jones, he's like, hey, I'm retiring,
and then all of a sudden he comes out of
retirement literally a few days later.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
What are your thoughts on this?
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Oh, I don't care. It'd be good if you stay retired,
if you come back, come back. But he don't have
a bell anymore. So he's not holding up the division
like he was in two or five divisions.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So that's good. So he can do whatever you want.
I don't. It don't affect me.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Now, right for sure?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Last question before I let you go, because I know
you got a busy schedule this week, uh, preparing for
UFC Nashville at Bridge Down Arena. By the way, tickets
still available ticketmaster dot com.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
If I was to look at.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Derek's playlist right now, like his music playlist, what is
that one song that.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
We would be surprised to see on your playlist?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Probably Marty Ray Marty Ray, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
No, Chapelone, No, Pink Pony Club.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
No, No, I don't even know who that is.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Well, we'll have to throw some on there.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Seeker here.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It's one of those viral songs that everybody gets down to.
But Marty Ray, Marty Ray, Hunted, Marty Ray hunting. Is
there a specific song hunted? Oh, Marty Raey Hunted, got it? Okay,
that's the name of the I'll have to go listen
to that because I'm not familiar with that one, and
I'm a music guy.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I should know these things. But that's one of those
those surprises.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I'll definitely have to check that out well, Derek before
we let you go, anything you want to say to
people listening to this right now.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Thanks for everyone for the support. You know, I got
a few more fights in my contract. If you always
wanted to see me live, come on with it. So
I'm throwing out memorb barely in the cross after every fight.
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