UFC: Despite UFC 226 victory, Derrick Lewis believes ‘terrible performance’ has him farther away from UFC title shot

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UFC 226 had the potential of being the biggest and more entertaining card of the year and it certainly lived up to it. The preliminary fights set up the tone and fights kept getting better and better from the main card kick off and beyond.

Just as the co-main event was upon us, fans thought the card would certainly keep on getting better, keeping in mind the barn burner between intriguing heavyweights in #1 ranked Francis Ngannou and #5 ranked Derrick Lewis.

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However, the fight was no where closer to what was expected. With the duo who earned KO/TKO wins in 24 of their previous 30 combined wins, they put up only 33 strikes over the span of three rounds. With Lewis landing 22 out of them, he sealed the deal defeating Ngannou via unanimous decision in a dull fight.

Lewis however was honest and didn’t sugarcoat his performance. Lewis believes even a win over #1 ranked contender keeps him far away from title contention.

“It was a terrible performance,” Lewis said. “I know I say that a lot but it was a real bad performance. I know for sure I don’t deserve a title shot. I believe it hurt me more than it helped me, even though I got the win. I believe it set me probably about two fights back.”

 

To his defense, back spasms kept Lewis away from pulling the trigger. However, the Houston slugger does not use it as an excuse and does not blame Ngannou for not engaging.
“For sure, my back was killing me,” Lewis said. “All I wanted to do was just sit down and stay on that bench.”
“I believe it’s all my fault because I’m the one that called him out and I should have really pushed the pace, but I also had to fight smart too because he is very dangerous on the feet,” Lewis said.
Lewis humbly believes he needs to get back on drawing board.
“Really, the game plan was to take his ass down, and I already told my coach I don’t know how to take down,” Lewis said. “I don’t know how to do takedowns.”
“My ass needs to sit down somewhere and learn some more technique or something,” Lewis said. “I don’t deserve to call anyone out with a performance like that. I don’t care if he is the No. 1 contender. I believe I shouldn’t be fighting no one, really, with a performance like that.”
Read also:
https://www.mmaindia.com/ufc-dana-white-says-ngannous-ego-ran-away-big-time/
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