UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis looks for revenge on Aussie star Tai Tuivasa

One of UFC’s biggest stars is desperate to avenge a loss from almost two years ago against Tai Tuivasa, putting the Aussie star in his sights after making a shift he hopes will take him to another level.

Derrick Lewis.

Derrick Lewis may be fighting one of the UFC’s hottest prospects this weekend, but if all goes well he plans on getting revenge against Australian cult hero Tai Tuivasa.

The pair fought a two round epic at UFC 271 where Tuivasa finished the fan favourite with a brutal elbow after a dominant first round by Lewis.

Although the fight was almost two years ago, the loss still haunts Lewis and he intends on getting one back on his Aussie counterpart.

“For sure I would like to avenge my loss to all the guys I have lost to, especially Tai as he’s ahead of me.”

Lewis feels he was leading in his first fight and if it wasn’t for an error on his behalf he would’ve walked away with a victory.

“I let off the gas,” Lewis said,

“I believe I had him in a bad position and I let him get up and stepped away, I should have never done that and that was my downfall.”

Heading into his fight this weekend at 38-years-old Lewis is in the best shape of his career which he credits to two processes he has added to his camp, and feels that he still has a lot to give to the sport of MMA.

“I’m just running, I’ve never ran before in my life until the last few years, and now I’ve started it’s helping,” Lewis said.

Derrick Lewis fought Aussie favourite Tai Tuivasa in February last year.

“My coaches also told me the secret behind gaining a six-pack is not drinking sodas so I’ve been trying hard not to drink those, which is hard cause I love them.”

Coming off the back of a first round flying knee knockout of Marcos Rogério de Lima, Lewis plans on finishing his main event clash this weekend with another early finish.

“When I feel I’m in better shape, people are going to see a different side of me, and see me execute somethings in the octagon that I haven’t been able to do before,” Lewis said.

“I felt in tremendous shape then, and i feel in tremendous shape now so you never know what’s going to happen,”

“I have trained enough for two rounds and so that’s what’s gonna happen, the fights only going to go two rounds.”

Fighting a renowned grappler in Jailton Almeida, Lewis has not looked too far into his opponent claiming he hasn’t even watched Almeida fight before.

Lewis takes on rising prospect Jailton Almeida on Sunday afternoon.

“I have never even seen him fight, I heard he was a grappler, won’t be nothing I haven’t seen before so I’ll just go in there and do my thing.”

After Lewis’s fight this weekend, all attention will be focused on UFC 295 with interim heavyweight gold on the line between Tom Aspinal and Sergei Pavlovich.

Lewis has every intention of getting back on the hunt for gold and will be keeping a close eye on this fight if all goes to plan on Sunday.

The heavyweight lost to Pavlovich last year and wants revenge against the Russian, with a championship making that match look even more appealing.

Originally published as UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis looks for revenge on Aussie star Tai Tuivasa