Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou are slated to fight this coming July on the UFC 226 card, although their spot on the card has yet to be determined.
The heavyweight feels that the UFC should just cut him if the bout with Ngannou goes all three rounds.
“It can’t go bell-to-bell, there ain’t no way,” Lewis said on UFC Unfiltered. “If it goes bell-to-bell, I need to be cut.”
Lewis has seen just three of his twenty five professional MMA bouts go the distance, while Ngannou has seen just two fights go to the judges scorecards.
Ngannou is coming off of a decision loss to UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 220, but Lewis felt that Miocic could’ve gotten the finish in that encounter.
“The thing about that fight is Stipe could’ve finished that fight a long time ago. The ref should’ve stopped the fight a long time ago when Stipe was on top of him,” Lewis said. “The guy didn’t throw any punches after the second round, he didn’t throw anything else and once Stipe got on top of him and started hitting him, you know. If I was in that same situation, I’m not gonna just pepper shot him, I’m gonna let my full load out on him on his face. No homo.”
UFC 226 takes place on Saturday, July 7 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
