Derrick Lewis Targets Stipe Miocic After Fighting ‘Weak’ JDS
Derrick Lewis targets a fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic despite having his next fight booked. The hard-hitting heavyweight star is slated to meet former UFC champion Junior dos Santos at the upcoming UFC on ESPN + 4.
While speaking during a recent interview, Lewis made it known that he thinks JDS is one of the weakest fighters to compete against currently in the division. That’s a bold statement to make consider the accomplishments that JDS has achieved in his pro-MMA career.
“He’s probably the weakest guy that I’m gonna fight out of the guys that I’ve fought before,” Lewis told Helen Yee recently (H/T to MMAFighting). “He’s probably like the fifth or the sixth guy. I don’t think he’s the toughest guy I’ve ever fought so we’ll see on March 9th.”
This is where Lewis revealed that originally, the UFC wanted him to fight Miocic in January. But since he had just fought in November, he couldn’t commit to that timeframe.
“They offered me Stipe but I told them it was too short of a notice. It was right after the DC fight and they wanted me to fight in January, right after I just lost to DC. So I just told them no, I needed some time off.
“I had a fight in November then they wanted me to fight in January. I’m like, damn! This are all top guys so I needed some time off. I wanted a full training camp. My body, my mind wasn’t quite right.”
UFC on ESPN + 4 is set to take place on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
