"I've never been hit harder in my life" - Daniel Cormier claims he had knots in his arms while fighting Derrick Lewis during UFC 277 check-in with 'The Black Beast'

Derrick Lewis and Daniel Cormier were recently reminiscing about their heavyweight title fight in 2018.

On a recent episode of The DC Check-In, Lewis discussed his upcoming fight at UFC 277 against Sergei Pavlovich. He also spoke about regaining his motivation for training, and so much more.

In discussing his memories of the contest with Derrick Lewis, Cormier said:

"What I do remember about that fight though, I've never been hit harder in my life. You gave me a black eye and I was holding your leg up. I had knots all in my arms from them jump kick things you be doing."

Watch the interview/ video below

Cormier versus Lewis went down at UFC 230 in November 2018. Madison Square Garden's main event bout saw 'DC' retain his hardware with a second-round rear-naked choke.

This was Lewis' first ever bid for the UFC belt and he was riding a three-fight winning streak heading into the Cormier contest.

Lewis bested Marcin Tybura via third-round knockout at UFC Fight Night 126. He then beat Francis Ngannou by way of unanimous decision at UFC 226. He followed it up by beating Alexander Volkov in a huge come-from-behind KO in the waning seconds of their UFC 229 fight.

For Cormier, this was his first and only heavyweight title defense inside the Octagon.

'DC' eventually dropped the strap back to the man he claimed it from. Cormier was felled by Stipe Miocic via fourth-round KO at UFC 241 in August 2019.

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Derrick Lewis' recent run

Derrick Lewis is currently ranked at No. 5 and Sergei Pavlovich is the No. 11 ranked heavyweight contender in the UFC.

Lewis is 2-2 across his last four fights and is looking to bounce back into the win column. While he scored an emphatic KO of Curtis Blaydes in February 2021, he then fell short in his second UFC title bid.

Derrick Lewis fought Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC world heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 265 and lost via third-round TKO.

He closed out his 2021 campaign with a devastating first-round knockout of Chris Daukaus. However, he was stopped with a second-round elbow by Tai Tuivasa in his last outing at UFC 271 in February.

'The Black Beast' looks to get back on track and possibly embark on a run that would garner him a third crack at the UFC heavyweight strap.

Conversely, Pavlovich is riding a three-fight win streak heading into this fight and is also taking on his sophomore fight of the calendar year.