You wouldn’t expect a man named “The Black Beast” as one who cries much.
In fact, according to Derrick Lewis, he hasn’t cried in over five year, until last Saturday in Las Vegas. That’s because, after weighing in for his UFC 216 fight against Fabricio Werdum, Lewis would be forced out of the bout due to a long-nagging back injury.
His back flared up at just the wrong time, and as a result, Lewis didn’t get to fight, he didn’t get paid, and he cried, for the first time in a long time.
Here’s what he said,
“For sure, it was real depressing. I took a big hit in my mental standpoint, it is way worse than a loss. It’s something that I never experienced and I hope it’s something that I never will experience ever again. I’m really in a depression stage right now.”
“I ain’t gonna lie to you, I was really crying,. I haven’t cried in years. I was really crying for the first time, my coaches, my wife, everybody was trying to butter me up, but I wasn’t trying to hear that, I was really crying.
“It was a bunch of things. All of that and knowing that all the work I put in through my training camp and stuff like that, and just to pull out hours away from the fight and knowing that I’m only doing this for the money also. Missing out on $300K and not getting anything from it, that hits you real hard too.
“I was crying like a big-ass baby. My coach knew how much this fight means to me and I didn’t want to pull out for nothing. My coaches, they all convinced me that it’s probably the best thing to do to pull out because they knew I was going through the same problems with Mark Hunt and I didn’t pull out in that fight and it cost me.
“Right now, anything is a possibility. We’re just waiting on MRIs right now before we can start my treatment because they want to see what’s the issue first. The doctor I talked to Thursday he said that he’s willing to release me anytime, it’s up to me, but I really want to take the precautions to see what’s really wrong with my back. I don’t want to happen again.
“Even if it does happen again, I don’t want to go through the same feelings I went through pulling out of the fight and all that, going through that emotional mess. I’m still going to fight no matter what.”
Here’s his full interview:
