Derrick Lewis Wants Three Rounder Against Alistair Overeem Next

Derrick Lewis has moved closer to a heavyweight title shot after his brutal uppercut KO stoppage of Curtis Blaydes lat night, but it seems like ‘The Black Beast’ is in no rush to get there.

Instead, the four-fight unbeaten Lewis now wants to go up against the legendary veteran Alistair Overeem, even although he’s coming off a TKO loss to Alexander Volkov earlier this month.

“I want Overeem next. Like I said earlier, I’m already greased and oiled up for him so we ready,” Lewis told reporters at the post-fight press conference.

“I don’t care (if) he got a couple of losses in a row. It’ll be cool just to fight him because he’s a so-called legend, so it’ll be cool to fight somebody like that. And also, he’d been talking trash, he’s saying that his teammate Curtis can handle this light weight and stuff like that.”

“We’ve been trying to fight him for years and he turned down the fight four times already. He might take it (this time). He’d been hit in the head a couple of times so he might forget all about what happened tonight.”

It’s not hard to see why Lewis, who now holds the record for the most KO finishes in heavyweight history (11) would want that fight. After all, Overeem is still a big-name fighter in the division, but by his own admission he’s at the tail-end of his career and though he’s still had his successes at times, he’s still been finished by strikes frequently too.

Lewis is not getting above his station though, and while he could well fall-in line behind Jon Jones as the next title contender in the division, he seems almost embarrassed to be in that position and is more concerned with avoiding having to fight for 25 minutes than anything else.

“I would like a three-round fight. Just because… I don’t want five rounds.

“I don’t need no main event. I don’t deserve a main event. I don’t want to go five rounds, I hate five rounds.”

Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.