Derrick Lewis Breaks Silence On UFC 216 Removal

Hard-hitting UFC heavyweight star Derrick Lewis has broken his silence on being removed from his bout with former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 216, which took place on Saturday, October 7th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This was supposed to be the biggest break of his career. However, instead of taking advantage of a great opportunity, he was met with major disappointment due to the fact that he was pulled from the fight last-minute due to a back injury.

We are nine days removed from the latest UFC PPV (pay-per-view) event. Lewis has decided to open up on the removal and admitted during a recent interview with Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour that he is still reeling from the displeasure that his fight cancellation has brought him.

“For sure, it was real depressing,” Lewis said on Monday’s MMA Hour episode (via MMA Fighting). “I took a big hit in my mental standpoint, it is way worse than a loss. It’s something that I never experienced and I hope it’s something that I never will experience ever again. I’m really in a depression stage right now.”

“I was crying like a big-ass baby. My coach knew how much this fight means to me and I didn’t want to pull out for nothing. My coaches, they all convinced me that it’s probably the best thing to do to pull out because they knew I was going through the same problems with Mark Hunt and I didn’t pull out in that fight and it cost me.”

Although nothing has been made official as far his next move goes for Lewis, the number one priority for him right now is get himself healthy and not let such an incident happen again.

“Right now, anything is a possibility. We’re just waiting on MRIs right now before we can start my treatment because they want to see what’s the issue first,” Lewis said. “The doctor I talked to Thursday he said that he’s willing to release me anytime, it’s up to me, but I really want to take the precautions to see what’s really wrong with my back. I don’t want to happen again.”

“Even if it does happen again, I don’t want to go through the same feelings I went through pulling out of the fight and all that, going through that emotional mess. I’m still going to fight no matter what.”