A biography for Derrick Lewishasn’t been written yet.
“I wanted to start in boxing, but you have to train a little harder to be a boxer. A lot of those guys can take punches. MMA, you only have to hit someone so hard to knock them out.”
“I'm an optimistic guy.”
“Basically, I guess they just thinking I've been winning my fights just by luck. I just think I've been winning my fights on heart.”
“I don't care if I ever fight for the belt or get the belt.”
“You've got to try to find some type of mental edge on your opponent.”
“That's what really gets me going, thinking about my past. I think about all the tough times and bad times I've had in my life and I bring all that into the Octagon. That's only because it's hard going in there trying to fight someone who didn't do anything to you.”
“You eat salad and you're hungry the next 30 minutes and you're hungrier from when you ate the damn salad.”
“I'm serious, I don't stay in the gym each day like my opponents.”
“The one thing about me, if it is a 15-minute fight, I'm fighting every one of them 15 minutes. And if it's a 25-minute fight, I'll be fighting all 25 until the bell rings.”
“I made my third parole and I believe if I had made it the first time, I wouldn't be here today. I still would've been out there doing stupid stuff.”
“I don't care where I'm at in the heavyweight division. As long as I win enough, so they keep me. That's about it.”
“I just like being in fun fights.”
“My goal is just to make as much money as I can in the sport, and that's it.”
“My heart outweighs all the talent. If they've got more talent, I believe that my heart will still overcome that. You've got to have heart to step inside the octagon anyway.”
“I just feel that all the top fighters in the world are making all the money.”
“I don't train like a mixed martial artist. I don't respect the sport like everyone else does.”
“That would be great if I could be a role model or inspiration to those who have been in my shoes before.”
“There's nothing I really want to accomplish. I already set my family up pretty good right now.”
“I know Cormier is a wrestler so you really got to get them hips down on him so I've been working them hips really good.”
“Since I was probably eight years old, just about everyday, all the way until I was 14 or 15 years old, just about everyday my mom and my stepdad would roll around in the living room fighting.”