Ivan OrekhovSport correspondentAll materialsMOSCOW, July 29. On the eve of the fight against the Russian Sergey Pavlovich (No. 11), the fifth number of the heavyweight of the Absolute Fighting Championship (UFC), Derrick Lewis, insulted Russia and Germany, accusing the inhabitants of these countries of racism. . The fight entered the main card of UFC 277 in Dallas.
"I always think the question "How did you get the nickname Black Beast" is a bait, — the portal then24.com quotes the words of the athlete. “Especially when foreigners ask it. Because they automatically think of something racist. I try not to give them much food for such things. People from Russia, Germany and so on — they are already born with a swastika icon".
The fight against Pavlovich will be the fourth meeting for Lewis with representatives of Russia. Previously, a fighter from New Orleans defeated Shamil Abdurahimov, Alexander Volkov and Alexei Oleinik ahead of schedule.
Battle poster of Derrick Lewis vs Sergey Pavlovich ) in the heavyweight division of the UFC. For example, a fighter who has repeatedly admitted that he fights not for the championship belt, but for the sake of money, in the summer of 2020, before a face-to-face fight against Oleinik, decided to provoke his opponent. The Black Beast spat in the food of a Russian MMA veteran, which was caught on video. In that fight, Lewis almost fell for a choke, but won by technical knockout in the second round and got a chance to fight for a temporary belt. The American also fought at UFC 229 in 2018, in the main event of which Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor shared the cage. On the eve of the fight with Volkov, Lewis knocked off the hat from the Russian during the battle of views and, having won a sensational victory by knockout a few seconds before the end of the fight, took off his shorts right in the octagon, explaining his act with “heat” in the groin area.