It puts him perhaps in the minority among fighters, but Derrick Lewis isn’t too keen on fighting during the global coronavirus pandemic.
It certainly helps that Lewis just fought in February, when he rallied to defeat Ilir Latifi with a unanimous decision at UFC 247.
But with coronavirus continuing to spread, Lewis (23-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) doesn’t think it’s worth risking his health and potentially compromising the health of his family members by fighting right now.
“Of course I want to get through this safely,” Lewis told MMA Junkie. “I can’t be selfish and stuff like that and go out there and get myself sick and all my family, and bringing back whatever I got and give it to my kids and stuff like that, and my loved ones. So I’ve got to be not selfish enough and just wait and see what the president has to say about everything and just look up to the leaders and just see what they have to say.”
He does have a targeted event in mind, though, when the UFC returns once again to his home state of Texas on June 27.
“June – I’ll be fighting in June in Austin, Texas,” Lewis said.
Initially looking for an active 2020, Lewis knows it’s highly unlikely considering the UFC already has been forced to postpone three events – and possibly more down the line.
“That was my goal – to shoot (for) four fights this year before all this stuff happened,” Lewis said. “So we’ll see if we can do three. But what it’s looking like right now – it (doesn’t) look like it. So if we can get another one in, that would be great. If not, that’s fine.”
After dropping two straight, including a failed attempt at capturing the UFC heavyweight title against former champion Daniel Cormier in 2018, Lewis has bounced back with two straight wins over Blagoy Ivanov and Latifi.
But for Lewis, the climb back is not necessarily toward the title.
“I don’t really care about the title, even if it’s more money – but just the headache that comes with being a champion and stuff like that,” Lewis said. “All the media stuff and the attention it gets, I’m not really in it for all of that because I’m not really a people person. That’s the reason why I say crazy stuff in my interviews. Like, I hate doing interviews and stuff – I just want people to get the hell away from me.”
Derrick Lewis not interested in fighting during coronavirus outbreak: 'I can't be selfish'
