Derrick Lewis wants one more heavyweight title run after UFC on ESPN 70 win

13-07-2025

Derrick Lewis' title aspirations are very much still alive.
"The Black Beast," who's in the twilight of his fighting career, let the world know that he's planning on making one last run at the UFC heavyweight title. These comments come after Lewis' latest knockout win over previously-undefeated Brazilian prospect Tallison Teixeira in the main event of Saturday's UFC on ESPN 70 in Nashville, Tenn.
"I don't want an easy fight like that," Lewis told reporters at the UFC on ESPN 70 post-fight interview. "Of course, I would like to do one more run at the title. That would be good."
Lewis (29-12 MMA, 20-10 UFC) put Teixeira (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) away in just 35 seconds into their main event bout. For a moment, things looked dicey for the 40-year-old, as it looked like Teixeira had hurt Lewis' eye. However, it was a bluff that clearly worked.
"Sh*t, I was acting like something was in my eye," Lewis said. "I was waiting on him to get a little closer, he didn't get close enough the first time, so I really was trying to sell it, make it seem he got me in my eye pretty good. Sh*t, that's what happened. I called it. I noticed he was trying to pull himself up with the cage, and I'm like, 'Man, come on, man. You have me hitting my own leg.' It was messed up."
Some online claimed that the stoppage was a bit premature, including UFC CEO Dana White. Although Teixeira was working his way up by grabbing and holding onto the cage, which is not permitted, Lewis thinks the stoppage was right.
"Yes, the referee should've been stopping it," Lewis said. "He was in and out a couple of times before he started grabbing the cage."
Lewis is now on a two-fight winning streak and 3-1 in his past four outings. He's challenged twice for UFC gold – once in 2018 for the undisputed title against then champion Daniel Cormier and the other in 2021 for the interim belt against Ciryl Gane. He was stopped in both fights.

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UFC 318 takeaways: Max Holloway's chances vs. Ilia Topuria, Dustin Poirier's fitting exit

USA Today

an hour ago

USA Today

UFC 318 takeaways: Max Holloway's chances vs. Ilia Topuria, Dustin Poirier's fitting exit

What mattered most at UFC 318 on Saturday from Smoothie King Center in New Orleans? Here are a few post-fight musings … 4) A sensational set of prelims The finishes came hot and heavy early in UFC's return to New Orleans after more than 10 years, with the first six bouts on the card ending in a knockout or submission. It was a welcome sign after some dreadful prelim lineups in recent months, and it was all favorites who held serve. Jimmy Crute getting his first victory in nearly five years was one of the top moments, as was the vicious first-round knockout of debuting welterweight prospect Islam Dulatov. The middleweight bout between Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori was perhaps the most meaningful matchup on the preliminary-card lineup, with Allen getting the victory by unanimous decision in a very important moment in his career after consecutive losses. Credit to both men, however, because they delivered a fight worthy of their grudge, and the UFC brass agreed with each getting $50,000 for Fight of the Night. 3) Daniel Rodriguez and Kevin Holland deliver After three years of waiting to share the cage, Daniel Rodriguez and Kevin Holland made up for all that lost time with a welterweight classic that saw "D-Rod" emerge victorious by unanimous decision. It was an awesome fight, and one that extended Rodriguez's momentum into a three-fight winning streak, while Holland fell to 2-2 on the year, and was knocked down for the first time in his 28-fight UFC career. Both guys should get credit for what they produced in the cage, and probably should've been the rightful winners of Fight of the Night. It didn't happen, but the 15-minute war was an example of why both Rodriguez and Holland should be appointment viewing any time they enter the octagon. 2) Dustin Poirier a winner despite his defeat Dustin Poirier, of course, would've liked for his retirement fight to end in a winning manner with his hand being raised in front of a passionate crowd of fans, but fairy tale endings rarely exist in MMA. He nearly had that moment when he badly hurt and knocked down Holloway in the second round, but could not seal the deal, then fell short on the scorecards. Realistically, though, Poirier not winning the fight will be just a footnote in his retirement story. The real thing he should attach himself to is the treatment he received from the UFC, the fans and his fellow fighters both before and after the fight, which is a reflection of the widespread admiration he's earned for himself. It might be cliche at this point, but Poirier is the definition of a true fighter. His incentives for getting into this sport were not to get social media clout or be viewed as a cool, tough guy. His passion for fist fighting was his path out of a troubled youth, and he turned it into a sustainable career, and now, ultimately one that has given him financial freedom for life and generational wealth on top of it. That's the real win for Poirier after UFC 318, and he rightfully left the cage, his post-fight interviews and the arena with his head held high, knowing that he committed every part of his being to maximizing his time. He will still be around the sport as a voice, but from every explanation he gave about why he was doing this now, there will be no luring him back, and everyone should be happy he left on his terms. 1) What is lightweight Max Holloway capable of? Max Holloway played his role as the opposing force to Poirier's retirement fight pretty much perfectly from beginning to end. He handled the entire situation with class and dignity, and although the crowd obliged his call to be booed on multiple instances, not one of those boos was genuine. How could they be, really? Holloway is a class act and knows what he was going up against. He never tried to take away from Poirier's moment, even when the spotlight was all on himself after getting his hand raised to successfully defend the BMF title. The question for Holloway now, however, is what this win truly tells us about him at this stage of his career. On the positive end, the former featherweight champion has looked excellent overall in his past two appearances at lightweight against Poirier and Justin Gaethje. His speed is there, and as we've seen in him dropping both men, the power is present, too. That will only become a bigger threat as time goes on and he finds increased comfort at this weight class, but on the flip side, there's going to be persistent questions about whether his record amount of significant strikes absorbed in UFC competition will eventually catch up. There's already signs, because after going on the longest streak in company history without being knocked down, Holloway has found himself dropped and touching the mat at some point in his past three contests. The knockdown he never got back up from came against Ilia Topuria in October, as "El Matador" became the first to knock out Holloway. It's obvious that doesn't sit well with him, and Holloway is eager to get his chance at a rematch. Is there a ton of reason to think it would go any differently? Both men would be bigger and stronger than the previous encounter, and before he was stopped, a strong argument can be made that Holloway was finding more success against Topuria than anyone else on his recent run. Topuria has been a force of nature inside that octagon during his undefeated rise to winning titles in two divisions. He is not someone you pick against at this point in time, and still has many challengers ahead. Holloway might not get that rematch now or next, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Would he be favored to defeat Topuria in a rematch? Certainly not. But Holloway is one of the greatest to ever do it, and anyone pretending someone of his skill, experience and motivation isn't capable of winning if he shows up in form on the right night?