Ahead of this weekend’s headlining bout versus Jailton Almeida, Derrick Lewis feels that he was tricked, and only learned that the fight was in Brazil after accepting the short notice offer.
On roughly 30-days notice, Lewis stepped up to fill in for the injured Curtis Blaydes in the main event at UFC Fight Night: São Paulo versus Almeida. Lewis expressed that he was quick to accept the offer, but was unaware of the location of the fight until after the bout was already agreed upon.
“There were also a couple of guys that didn’t want to fight me so we just said ‘OK, that’s fine’. Then a few weeks ago we got a call about this guy (Almeida) and I just agreed straight away,” Lewis said to FOX Sports Australia. “I didn’t know the fight was in Brazil though. It was only after accepting that they told me. I’d always said to my manager I would never fight in Brazil because of the taxes being so bad. So I got tricked into accepting this fight.”
Lewis went on to explain that he has never had interest in fighting in Brazil due to the high tax percentage, and had he known where the fight was taking place, he never would have accepted the offer.
“No, I wouldn’t have taken it. Not at all. I said I didn’t want to fight here and, since arriving, nothing has changed. I can’t wait to go home,”
“It’s bad. I’m basically fighting for them (the government) right now. I’m not getting anything out of it. By the time I pay my coaches and so on, it’s not even worth it, and that’s if I don’t get pickpocketed here,”
“The Black Beast” is coming off a massive first round knockout of Marcos Rogério de Lima back at UFC 291 in July, and fans are hoping to see him keep the momentum rolling, regardless of his feelings on the location of this weekend’s fight.