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Derrick Lewis: PEDs or not, stepping in the Octagon at all is a hazardous thing to do

2K views 39 replies 9 participants last post by  dudeabides 
#1 ·
Derrick Lewis estimates ‘probably 70 percent’ of heavyweight division using PEDs

It wasn’t until his ninth UFC fight that Derrick Lewis was forced to hear the judge’s scorecards, and that alone bummed the "Black Beast" out. He apologized after his fight with Roy Nelson at UFC Fight Night 90, and even called for a rematch despite getting his arm raised in a split decision victory.

And less than two weeks later, Lewis is still his own toughest critic. He hasn’t changed his mind on fighting Nelson again. Or, really, anybody who is available in late summer.

"I still want Roy because after Roy I was going to try and go for Brock Lesnar, but since he ain’t gonna be around for awhile…" Lewis said during a spot on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. "Or Mark Hunt. But I just want a fight really soon. Whoever is ready to fight, like in September or even the end of August, I’ll fight him, doesn’t matter who.

"I think Mark Hunt makes the most sense right now, for me. Or that Todd Duffee guy. I don’t know if he’s still on suspension or what. That would be a good fight. We forgot about him."

Asked if he had any indication either way, Lewis said he should have news from matchmaker Joe Silva soon.

"I should hear something back this week. They’ll let me know."

The 31-year-old Texan Lewis hit Nelson with some big shots early, and even bigger shots late, yet "Big Country" wouldn’t fall. He had to settle for a split decision victory, marking the first time a fight of his has gone the distance since he fought Tony Johnson in Bellator back in 2011.

Having to win via decision didn’t sit well with Lewis.

"I really wished I would have finished [Nelson]," he said. "But, I guess he is who they say he is. He’s got an iron chin. I hit that guy pretty hard, like one of the hardest punches I’ve ever hit anyone with standing up, and he didn’t go out."

Lewis’s hopes of fighting Lesnar next were dashed on Friday when it was revealed that the former heavyweight champion — who returned at UFC 200 after four-and-a-half years away — was popped by USADA for a banned substance. Lesnar scored a unanimous decision against Mark Hunt, but his triumph now carries an asterisk.

Lewis, for one, wasn’t taken aback by the Lesnar news.

"It was no surprise," he told Ariel Helwani. "It was like Nate Diaz says, there was no surprise about it. Come on man. Look at the guy. Everyone knows he’s juicing. But, that don’t affect me at all. I’ll fight anyone. I’m ready."

Yet Lewis also said that he’d fight Lesnar, even if he were using PEDs.

"For sure I’ll fight him," he said. "When I was fighting in the lower league, I was fighting a lot of guys that was on juice. It doesn’t matter. That don’t help you fight any better, to me. I’ll still be eating fried chicken and McDonalds before my fight, and I feel fine."


When asked if the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs wasn’t a deterrent for him, as a family man with three children and so much to protect, Lewis said just stepping in the Octagon at all is a hazardous thing to do.

"I guess you got to have security problems if you got do all that," he said. "But it literally don’t affect me. I don’t care. The sport itself is dangerous. Anything can happen. So if you want to juice, go ahead and juice up. It’s just going to make you more depresysed afterwards."


Since losing against Shawn Jordan at UFC Fight Night 68 in June 2015, Lewis has won four straight fights in the heavyweight division. He’s now a peripheral figure for a title shot, meaning he could be a fight or two away from making his case emphatic.

Lewis said he believed his time would come "sometime next year" to fight for a title. His dream scenario?
"Maybe against [Alistair] Overeem," he said. "I think he’s going to beat Stipe [Miocic]. If Overeem can stay clean…I know he’s tempted right now to take them steroids, I know he’s tempted…but if I can stay clean I’d say we can get at it by next year."

Overeem is fighting Miocic at UFC 203 in Cleveland on Sept. 10, right around the time Lewis says he wants to return. When asked what percent of the heavyweight division is using PEDs, Lewis tossed out an alarming number, yet reiterated that it was of no concern of his.

"Probably 70 percent," he said.

"It doesn’t piss me off at all. It’s just stupid for them to do that because they know that they’re getting random drug tests. They’re willing to risk thousands of dollars for something so stupid like that, that’s not even going to help them."
http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/7/18/12216292/derrick-lewis-estimates-probably-70-percent-of-heavyweight-division
 
#6 ·
@Sportsman 2.0 The argument we were having seems to be happening all over the place now btw :laugh:

after Mark Hunt said on MMA Hour "The best outcome is if the company that I work for says, ‘you’ve been cheating, you lose all of your (fight earnings), and since it was cheating, you get fined. You get sued and you get a fine. You’re going straight to court, criminal court, because what you’ve done is an offence.’ That’s what I want done,”

These guys are cheating and they should be in court for it. (They should) lose all of their money if they’re cheating, because if I die in there, who’s going to look after my family.

and then Faber says "It puts things in perspective when you see Cyborg's head get crushed, his skull get crushed. The human body, certain individuals have certain abilities. Is there a legal attempted murder if you're using something like that, if you're using something potentially using to make yourself a weapon that's illegal, and you're going to crush somebody's skull. It's a weird thing, and there's a reason why we have rules in this sport to make sure something like that doesn't happen."

Now obviously.... nobody should be getting done for attempted murder :laugh: But i would not be against some kind of criminal charges like assault or reckless endangerment.
 
#7 ·
Imo I think it's absolutely ridiculous to make it a legal thing (beyond the possibility for suing, which I could get).


I get the logic. You sue someone because they are doing something banned in the cage which could put you in serious danger.

You know, kind of like a groin kick. An elbow from an illegal position. A mistimed knee to the head of an opponent with their hand down. If someone dies from an illegal knee...is that assault? We see people making a mistake with their knees all the time. It's an easy thing to do, and yet if something serious happened from a completely illegal action...isn't that the same as something serious happening from taking banned substances beforehand?

It's on the commissions to make sure that the fighters in the cage are clean to the best of their abilities. This isn't like "victim blaming". In my opinion, outside of potential earnings, it's not an increased danger on someone's life other than making them a more effective fighter. It doesn't give someone super human abilities. Most of the time, it simply improves their training effectiveness.
 
#8 ·
Imo I think it's absolutely ridiculous to make it a legal thing (beyond the possibility for suing, which I could get).


I get the logic. You sue someone because they are doing something banned in the cage which could put you in serious danger.

You know, kind of like a groin kick. An elbow from an illegal position. A mistimed knee to the head of an opponent with their hand down. If someone dies from an illegal knee...is that assault? We see people making a mistake with their knees all the time. It's an easy thing to do, and yet if something serious happened from a completely illegal action...isn't that the same as something serious happening from taking banned substances beforehand?

It's on the commissions to make sure that the fighters in the cage are clean to the best of their abilities. This isn't like "victim blaming". In my opinion, outside of potential earnings, it's not an increased danger on someone's life other than making them a more effective fighter. It doesn't give someone super human abilities. Most of the time, it simply improves their training effectiveness.
I look at it like bringing something illegal into the cage with you, in this case... inside your body. If it enhances the one dishing out the damage, surely it is enhancing the damage to the receiving fighter.

I rank it similar to Antonio Margarito's hand wraps, or... Luis Resto, who after his padding was removed, caused serious injury and was done for assault, assault with a weapon (the weapon being... his hands, without padding) did 2 and a half years in jail.
 
#12 ·
To Jon Jones... and Anderson Silva.

He went on the best run of his entire career, only falling against two of the very best this sport has ever seen... in what, according to his age should be past his athletic prime.

Yeah... id say the steroids were working pretty well.
 
#35 ·
“The fight should be cancelled because it's cheating, it's a biological weapon that you have. If I fight someone with a knife and the promoter and the organization know I have a knife. I'm bringing a knife into the fight, they should not let me fight because I'm carrying a weapon.

A performance-enhancing drug is the same thing, it's a biological weapon. It's an advantage that you have over your opponent that you should not be able to compete with. Because you put the health of the competitor in jeopardy.

We're not playing golf, we're not racing, we're fighting. Every time we fight we put our lives, our well-being in jeopardy.” - Georges St-Pierre

and you cannot argue with GSP, GSP knows all... he is god.
 
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