Well, that escalated quickly.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight Derrick Lewis is set to throw down with Travis Browne at a UFC Fight Night event in Haliax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Lewis currently sits at No. 8 in the rankings, while Browne is at No. 9. This fight, however, goes far beyond rankings.
Last month, “Hapa” said Lewis made things personal when he chose to fight him. He felt Lewis believed he was the easiest opponent to make a statement against. “The Black Beast” has made it way more personal than that.
During his recent appearance on “The MMA Hour” (via LowKickMMA.com), Lewis took a dig at the allegations of domestic abuse against Browne. Having witnessed domestic abuse, Lewis is ready to use that as a reason to go for broke against the Hawaiian:
“I just wanted a real good fight, but he’s looking at it like I’m disrespecting him. He can look at it like motivation, but I can look at him beating his wife as my motivation. With my childhood, watching my Mom get beaten by a man, feeling helpless, and I could look at this as some type of motivation since he likes beating on women. I’m always looking for something to give me motivation.”
Lewis was originally going to meet Browne on the main card of UFC 208 inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Plans changed when the UFC needed a new headliner for their event in Halifax on Feb. 19.
Since suffering a TKO loss to Shawn Jordan back in June 2015, Lewis has turned a corner. He is on a five-fight winning streak. His biggest win in this stretch was against Roy Nelson back at UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas last July. “Big Country” was very hesitant to engage in the fight, but Lewis was able to put together enough offense to take a split decision.
