Lewis on UFC 229 brawl: ‘I thought it was entertaining’

Derrick Lewis earned a post-fight bonus at UFC 229, and it’s possible he wouldn’t have done so if it wasn’t for the brawl that followed Khabib Nurmagomedov’s win over Conor McGregor on Saturday.

Derrick Lewis has an interesting take when it comes to the brawl that occurred after UFC 229.

The UFC heavyweight contender, who knocked out Alexander Volkov with 11 seconds left in the fight on the pay-per-view main card Saturday night, said he enjoyed the post-event chaos involving Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, and their respective camps.

“I thought it was entertaining,” Lewis said on the FS2 post-fight show. “I was happy to see it.”

After Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor in the fourth round of their highly-anticipated lightweight title fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the Russian jumped out of the cage and attacked McGregor teammate Dillon Danis. At the same time, two Nurmagomedov teammates hopped over the fence into the Octagon and punched McGregor.

Police and security intervened and both fighters were eventually escorted out of the arena. Three members of Nurmagomedov’s camp were arrested but have since been released because McGregor declined to press charges.

Lewis, who sits at No. 2 in the official UFC rankings, said he was glad the brawl happened because it likely increased his chance of getting a post-fight bonus for his knockout of Volkov. Later in the night, Lewis would find out that he did in fact earn a Performance of the Night bonus worth $50,000 — it seems “The Black Beast” was right.

“I thought [Nurmagomedov and McGregor] were gonna get the bonus, so I’m sure Dana White is gonna take the bonus from Khabib for that,” Lewis said. “Hopefully they give it to me.”

Lewis was down two rounds to none on two of the judges’ scorecards heading into the third round, and with 11 seconds left in the fight, found himself in a do-or-die situation. He landed a thunderous punch that dropped Volkov and followed up with his patented ground-and-pound, forcing the referee to step in.

With the win, Lewis moved his winning streak to three in a row and seems to be nearing a title shot.

Credit to BloodyElbow