Over the years, Daniel Cormier has had some legendary rivalries inside MMA. However one that he looks back fondly on, is the friendly rivalry he built with Derrick Lewis.
By all accounts, Cormier and Lewis should never have fought for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Yet when the UFC needed to fill a main event spot for a PPV, DC agreed to step up and make the first defense of his heavyweight title. The reason Lewis was his opponent, was simply due to four little words.
2 years ago today…
Joe Rogan: "Why'd you take your pants off?"
Derrick Lewis: "My balls was hot."
Joe Rogan: "I understand." pic.twitter.com/gMi5vjxXIo
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) October 6, 2020
Daniel Cormier Recounts Rivalry With Derrick Lewis
Although their fight would end with Daniel Cormier dominating Derrick Lewis, en route to a submission win, the fight is still looked upon fondly, in large part due to the popularity of both fighters. In fact, DC was reflecting on this rivalry on a recent episode of the DC and Helwani show. Here the former champ-champ laughs and jokes about how their “rivalry” was essentially born around Lewis accusing Daniel of mistreating some Popeye’s chicken a few years ago, during his famous music video parody skit for Fighter’s Only, which even led to Derrick getting a sponsorship from the fast food chain.
“Remember I ended up getting the Carl’s Jr. sponsorship too,” Cormier said. “We had a rivalry built on fast food. It don’t get no better. We had a rivalry built on fast food because Derrick actually says things like ‘My balls are hot.’ I said ‘Derrick, why you wanna fight me?’ ‘He disrespected the Popeye’s chicken’ in his deep southern drawl, you know. C’mon, Derrick’s the man.
“Hey, Derrick can wrestle now,” Cormier added. “Thank god I fought him back then because now you can’t even hold Derrick down when you take him down.”
Never forget the rivalry built on fast food 🤣
(via @dc_mma, @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/zWuk3gh41M
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 9, 2020
This is certainly a funny way to frame the so-called rivalry that Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis had. It was never serious, just as the fight was not that monumental. However it showcased both men’s brilliant sense of humor, and made the sport all the more enjoyable for a time.
