The heavyweight division in mixed martial arts is not the deepest. In a sport characterized at its highest levels by training two or even three times a day, and obsessively trying to develop the widest skillset, the heavyweight division has fighters who can’t, say, show you seven neat setups for a Triangle, and aren’t training many hours a day.
Derrick Lewis, who has seen his career hindered by knee and back issues, tells Kevin Iole for Yahoo Sports that for much of his career, training was around 30 minutes per day. But now, heading into his fight vs. Aleksei Oleinik on Saturday night in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 32, Lewis said that knee surgery last year left him in a position to make a legitimate run at the heavyweight championship.
Now he says he has gotten in shape, and is developing skills. Lewis says he will still weigh in around 260-265, but that he’s proportioned differently – less fat, more muscle. And he looks back with frustration on fights he believes he could have won if he had trained right.
I look back at a lot of those fights and it bothers me, said Lewis. It all boils down to my training. I used to train only 30 minutes a day. Since I fought DC, I have started training a lot more. You might start seeing a slimmer version of me. I’ve been training more instead of just 30 minutes a day.
Before, I didn’t have the cardio to go like I needed to. I wasn’t developing my game. I was just really relying on my power and not taking anything that seriously.
I got all the way to a championship fight and I started realizing that I hadn’t really been training. Imagine if I would have been training more and taking everything seriously. I’d be champ by now. So that’s what I’ve been doing lately. I’m healthy and I’ve made the commitment to put in the work to make myself the best I can be.
The thing about the cardio is that it’s like peace of mind for yourself, because you know that if, somehow, he manages to take all this stuff and we’re there in the late third round, fourth round, even the fifth round, I have enough left in the tank that I can dig down and do what I need to do. But make no mistake … I want to get him out of there.
He’s a veteran who has been around a long time and can be dangerous with all of those submissions he has. I’m prepared for that. I’ve taken this fight very seriously. But if I have the opportunity to finish him, you know that I’m going to go for it.
So, UG, do you think In Shape Lewis can join the pantheon of ?Motivated BJ Penn, TRT Sonnen, and Crazy Stalkerless Huerta, and find true greatness??!?
