Derrick Lewis Admits He’s Not Focused Ahead Of Fabricio Werdum Fight

Derrick Lewis

After suffering a fourth-round TKO loss to Mark Hunt last June, Derrick Lewis will look to get back to his winning ways this weekend (Oct. 7, 2017) when he takes on former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum on the main card of UFC 216.

Although the fight is a pivotal one for “The Black Beast”, his mind has been on other things leading up to the bout. A native of Houston, Lewis saw firsthand the damage done to the city by Hurricane Harvey, and he also offered his services to those who needed it most.

With that being said, Lewis recently admitted that he’s ‘not focused’ ahead of his fight with Werdum:

“Not at all,” Lewis told MMAFighting.com when asked if the disaster served as extra motivation for him. “It was really emotional. It was really taxing on your body and your mind. It’s kind of hard to think about fighting whenever there’s people that lost everything. I’m out here trying to fight somebody that didn’t even do anything to me for some money. There’s people out there that lost their job and all of that. It’s just kind of hard.

“In my head — I’m not gonna lie to you — I’m not focused.”

Despite the fact that he may not be completely focused, Lewis expects to perform well. Physically, he’s said that he’s in great shape, and once he eats a punch, he feels as if his ‘mind will eventually come around’:

“I’m not worrying about that at all,” he said. “I’m gonna go out there and still fight as hard as I can, as long as my body is feeling good. My mind eventually will come around if I get punched in the face. Then it’ll come around for sure. But right now, I’m not really worried about fighting.”

Do you expect Lewis to take out Werdum, or do these comments lead you to doubt “The Black Beast”?