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Derrick Lewis has thanked all his opponents for "taking the punch on the chin" that helped him break the knockout-win record for the world's biggest MMA promotion.
The No.3-ranked heavyweight Lewis defeated Chris Daukaus via KO in the first round at UFC Vegas 45 a week ago. It was the 13th knockout victory of his UFC career, the most by any fighter in the organization's history.
During a recent episode of UFC Destined show by ESPN MMA, Lewis claimed he knew he had to do something spectacular during his most recent outing to the octagon.
"Coming into the [Daukaus] fight, I knew I had to do something spectacular. I thank all my opponents for taking the punch on the chin and for me to get that [knockout] record. Thank you all," said Lewis.
Watch Derrick Lewis reflect on his main event fight with Chris Daukaus below:
'The Black Beast' holds a 26-8-1 record in his professional mixed martial arts career so far.
In 2021, he claimed two wins against No.4 heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes and No.7-ranked Daukaus. Lewis also suffered a loss against Ciryl Gane in an interim heavyweight title fight in the main event of UFC 265.
Derrick Lewis has defeated Francis Ngannou once in the past
A win over Ciryl Gane in August this year would have propelled Derrick Lewis to a shot at Francis Ngannou's undisputed UFC heavyweight championship. But now he has to wait on the sidelines for a while.
Lewis has already beaten Ngannou in his career. The duo squared off inside the octagon at UFC 226 on July 7th, 2018. 'The Black Beast' picked up the win in the co-main event bout via unanimous decision (29-28 x2 and 30-27) in Las Vegas.
Several fans and pundits from the MMA world considered it to be an extremely boring matchup. 'The Predator' has since gone on a five-fight winning streak on his way to beating Stipe Miocic and winning the heavyweight title at UFC 260 in March this year.
Meanwhile, Derrick Lewis has unsuccessfully challenged for the undisputed heavyweight title once in his career. Losing via second round submission against then-champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 230 in November 2018.
