An hour or so before Khabib Nurmagomedov went ballistic at UFC 229, another Russian fighter was putting on a dominant performance. Heavyweight Alexander Volkov worked Derrick Lewis for 14 minutes and 40 seconds, using his superior length to tag Lewis whenever he wanted and staying out of range when Lewis tried to drop a power shot. Between the second and third rounds, Lewis’s cornerman even told his fighter that he was definitely down on the scorecards and that the only way he could win would be taking Volkov’s head off with a big punch.
Reader, that’s exactly how that shit went down.
Even on a card that featured several unexpectedly great fights and a ludicrous main event, Lewis’s comeback knockout was my favorite move of the night. After dropping his signature hip thrust celebration in the center of the octagon, Lewis gave a delightfully loopy interview to Joe Rogan. Why’d he take his pants off? “My balls was hot.” Who does he want to fight next? “I need to sit my black ass down, do some cardio, fuck what you talking about right now.” So what is next? “Maybe next week, I’ll come on your show and smoke some weed with you.” Hell yeah.
The desk later asked him how he was going to celebrate, and he didn’t disappoint.