After having a tough time dealing with Alexander Volkov at UFC 229 in 2018, Derrick Lewis was able to deliver a thunderous come-from-behind knockout.
“The Black Beast” was down on the scorecards, but landed a thunderous overhand right in Round 3 with just seconds left in the fight, flattening Volkov. The win was followed by one of the most memorable post-fight speeches and quotes, in which Lewis proceeded to take his shorts off in the middle of the octagon. When asked by Joe Rogan why he did that, he responded, “Because my balls was hot.”
That set Lewis up for a title shot against then-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, just one month later at UFC 230. But he was outgrappled and choked out in the second round. He also fell short in his next outing, a second-round TKO loss to former heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos in March, suffering back-to-back losses for the first time in his career.
Lewis (21-7 MMA, 12-5 UFC) returns to action Saturday when he takes on Blagoy Ivanov (18-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on the main card of UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN2/ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
Ahead of his UFC 244 contest against Ivanov, relive Lewis’ comeback win over Volkov in the video above.
