Dana White praises Derrick Lewis following his knockout loss to Tai Tuivasa: “He’s been a lot of fun to have in our heavyweight division”

UFC President Dana White is showing support for Derrick Lewis after “The Black Beast” was knocked out by Tai Tuivasa.

In the co-main event of UFC 271, Lewis and “Bam Bam” mixed it up inside the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The heavyweight slugfest lived up to its billing. While both men dabbled in the grappling department, they weren’t afraid to trade leather as expected.

Ultimately, an elbow from Tuivasa shut Lewis’ lights off. Tuivasa scored the second-round knockout win.

During the UFC 271 post-fight press conference, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T asked Dana White about Derrick Lewis falling short a second time in Houston.

Dana praised “The Black Beast” for his efforts.

“Well, he doesn’t always come up short. Up until tonight, he was the number three-ranked guy in the world, which is a big deal. He’s got the most knockouts in heavyweight history and he went in against a guy tonight who’s on a five-fight knockout streak. Younger, you know, he fought a 29-year-old guy tonight. Derrick Lewis is a bad boy, man. He’s been a lot of fun to have in our heavyweight division here in the UFC and obviously very beloved here in the town of Houston and around the world. He’s a pretty big star for us.”

Dana also said that Lewis is a bit of an underdog story as very few could’ve expected him to reach the level of stardom he has obtained.

“If you looked at Derrick Lewis coming into the UFC, I don’t know if people would’ve expected him to do what he’s accomplished here. He’s become a huge superstar and done some pretty great things.”

King Booker T asking questions.#UFC271 pic.twitter.com/qmSBCVn38J

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) February 13, 2022

Lewis was hoping to capitalize on the momentum he had when he knocked out Chris Daukaus in late 2021. It was a nice bounce-back win for Lewis, who had been stopped by Ciryl Gane in an interim heavyweight title fight.

Obviously, Derrick Lewis will now have to go back to the drawing board.