Daniel Cormier Believes Derrick Lewis Matches Francis Ngannou In Power
Daniel Cormier expanded on his recent tweet about Derrick Lewis.
Lewis enjoyed his fourth win in a row following a devastating uppercut knockout of Curtis Blaydes at UFC Vegas 19 this past weekend.
The knockout went viral on social media and reaffirmed Lewis as one of the hardest hitters in the UFC as he now holds the record for most heavyweight knockouts (12).
Cormier, in particular, notably tweeted that Lewis had the most power out of anyone in the UFC.
However, many contested that Francis Ngannou had more power than Lewis and that would be a fair shout given how he has won his last four fights.
To that, Cormier responded:
“Everyone started going Francis, Francis, Francis. People — there is a reason Francis Ngannou was so tentative in the fight against Derrick Lewis,” Cormier said on his show with Ariel Helwani (via Middle Easy). “It’s the only time he’s ever fought like that. Francis just bullrushes everybody from Stipe Miocic to Alistair Overeem. Almost a blatant disregard for them and their power.
“He stood and took pictures with Derrick Lewis because of the power coming back in his direction. So let’s not go acting as if Derrick Lewis doesn’t have power to match anyone in the heavyweight division, even Francis Ngannou. And when you talk about knockouts, nobody has more than Derrick so how do you say that another guy has more power than him? And that’s not a knock on Francis — that’s just reality.”
Cormier is referring to the 2018 Ngannou vs. Lewis fight that saw both fighters throw few strikes in what was one of the more disappointing matchups in recent history. Lewis would win via unanimous decision.
Of course, it can also be argued that Ngannou was affected by his loss to Miocic at the time. That said, nobody can argue that Lewis isn’t at the very top when it comes to power.
Who do you think hits harder?
