LAS VEGAS – Unlike the majority of the MMA community, Derrick Lewis is unfazed by the Francis Ngannou rematch falling through.
Lewis (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) was projected to challenge Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) for the UFC heavyweight championship next, but after Ngannou and his team had a spat with the promotion over his desired date for a return, UFC president Dana White moved on.
The UFC opted to book an interim heavyweight title fight between Lewis and rising contender Ciryl Gane (9-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), which will headline UFC 265 on Aug. 7 at Toyota Center in Houston.
Although Lewis will be competing for the interim title instead of the undisputed, he said it makes no difference to his bank account.
“I really don’t care,” Lewis told reporters, including MMA Junkie, backstage at UFC 264. “They told me what I’m getting paid if I’m fighting Francis, and they told me what I’m going to be paid if I fight Ciryl, so it doesn’t matter to me, so I don’t care. I’m still getting paid the same like I was getting paid to fight Francis.”
Should Lewis prevail at UFC 265, he will unify the belts with the man he beat in 2018, while getting pay-per-view points in the process as an interim champ. But first he has to go through unbeaten Gane, who Lewis knows is tricky, but the division’s leader in most knockout victories is confident that he can catch the Frenchman.
“I don’t care who it was,” Lewis said. “Ciryl Gane, he’s a good opponent, he’s dangerous. He’s boring most of the time, but he’s smart. He’s a smart fighter, so it’s still gonna be a fun fight with me. It doesn’t matter if he’s gonna try and stay away and do all these little fancy kicks and stuff like that, but I’m still gonna have my moment in the fight.”
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