Derrick Lewis promises that his fight with Francis Ngannou is going to live up to the hype at UFC 226.

Derrick Lewis Says He Should Be Cut If His Fight With Francis Ngannou Goes The Distance

A massive heavyweight clash between two of the biggest men in the UFC was announced this past weekend with Derrick Lewis set to take on Francis Ngannou at UFC 226 on July 7.

Ngannou comes into the fight having been defeated by champion Stipe Miocic in what turned out to be a one-sided affair at UFC 221 last Jan. The Cameroonian-Frenchman came in for plenty of criticism after the bout and Lewis hasn’t shied away from giving his own critique of Ngannou’s performance in recent interviews.

Speaking this week on the UFC Unfiltered Podcast, Lewis said that Ngannou was lucky to have survived Miocic’s onslaught and that he would’ve finished him had he had Ngannou in the same predicament.

“The thing about that fight is Stipe could’ve finished that fight a long time ago,” Lewis said. “The ref should’ve stopped the fight a long time ago when Stipe was on top of him. “The guy didn’t throw any punches after the second round, he didn’t throw anything else and once Stipe got on top of him and started hitting him, you know, if I was in that same situation, I’m not gonna just pepper shot him, I’m gonna let my full load out on him on his face, no homo.”

The war of words between Lewis and Ngannou has already begun on social media. Lewis questioning the legitimacy of Ngannou’s age has led to a few back and forth exchanges already, but Lewis says he doesn’t understand how Ngannou has been able to post what he has.

“I don’t think he even speak English or understand English that good for me to even remotely get close to getting under his skin,” Lewis said. “The trash talking on the internet, he can leave that to his manager or his coaches or somebody. “They are the ones saying all that s*** because I don’t know how he can barely speak English [let alone] then type all that.”

Immediately after the news of the fight broke on Friday night, Lewis posted a humorous Instagram graphic on Instagram about the two fighting under a different ruleset with points taken away for takedowns, one minute rounds and ten minutes in-between.

Takedowns and working on the mat don’t appear to be in Lewis’ gameplan and like the fans are all hoping, he’s promising it’s going to be a stand-up war to see who will be the last man standing.

“Yes I feel like I match up well,” Lewis said. “He ain’t gonna have to worry about no takedowns and there ain’t no telling that he ain’t gonna try to take me down. “I just know that we’re going to swing it out and it’s going to be a good fight.”

Such is Lewis’ confidence that the fight will end inside 15-minutes, “The Black Beast” put out the bold statement that he shouldn’t be allowed to fight again in the organisation if it does. With 24 knockout victories between the two of them, it wouldn’t be wise to bet against this one finishing inside the distance.

“Na, it can’t go bell-to-bell,” Lewis said. “There ain’t no way. If it goes bell-to-bell then I need to be cut.”

UFC 226 is shaping up nicely.