Derrick Lewis: I Didn't Know Who Ilir Latifi Was
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| Photo Credit: Harry How - Getty Images Derrick Lewis looks to extend his win streak to two this weekend in Houston. |
The always entertaining, Derrick 'The Black Beast' Lewis makes his Octagon return this weekend at UFC 247 in Houston, Texas - as he tackles division mover, Ilir Latifi - an opponent Lewis admits he wasn't exactly familiar with.
The one-time heavyweight title challenger began his quest to a second tilt at Octagon gold with a close split decision victory over former WSOF and PFL champion, Blagoy Ivanov in early November, and welcomes Swedish powerhouse, Ilir Latifi back to the heavyweight limit for the first time since his second professional contest in 2008.
Ahead of the main card opener at the Toyota Centre - Derrick Lewis spoke with Davidson Baker from the MMA Power Hour, where he discussed his upcoming clash with the Malmo native - and how the whole media circus surrounding UFC 247 has made him, somewhat irritable.
"Hopefully I'll be feeling better than I today. I'm real frustrated with all these interviews," Lewis said when asked how he was dealing with his media obligations. "My lips are chapped, I need some Vaseline or something on my lips."
"No disrespect to him (Ilir Latifi), I didn't know who he was," Lewis explained when asked about sharing the Octagon with the Swede. "They showed me who he was and I seen his video and I was like, 'Oh he's a 185er?' and they were like, 'No, he's fighting at 205 (pounds)' and I was like, '205? So I guess he's going to be weighing 215 (pounds) or something like that or 220 (pounds)."
In terms of how the fight could play out stylistically - Lewis expected Latifi to employ a similar gameplan to that of former two-weight world champion, Daniel Cormier - and utilize his wrestling often.
"So, basically it's going to be one of those same type of fights. He's going to look to take me down and try to get me tired - and also, I believe he's going to try to knock me out also. He's an explosive guy but I don't know how explosive he's going to be with all that weight on him - you gotta keep that up for three rounds."
As for his pre-fight prediction, Lewis, ever the showman - remained coy and expects to land a "controversial" win.
"Hopefully it'll be by a controversial win. I'm going in there, swinging - hopefully, I hit something. Don't matter if it's the back of his head, his nuts, don't matter if it's on his spine. I'm going in there - just to take this guy out."
A victory for Lewis would mark the beginning of a new win-streak - while Latifi looks to make waves in his heavyweight promotional bow, following a stoppage loss to Volkan Oezdemir and a unanimous decision derailing against perennial contender, Corey Anderson at light heavyweight recently.
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