Derrick Lewis Claims Daniel Cormier is Scared of Jon Jones

Derrick Lewis has no illusions about the fact that he’s a massive underdog going into his first shot at UFC gold on Saturday night against double champ Daniel Cormier.

Despite the short notice appearance for the reigning heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, Cormier is a comfortable betting favorite with only around three weeks to prepare for Lewis.

Cormier has said in the lead up to the fight that he accepted the matchup with Lewis largely because he viewed the hard hitting heavyweight as a one-dimensional threat with huge knockout power but not much else to worry about.

In response, Lewis claims that Cormier accepted this fight on short notice because he thought he could win versus a third matchup against Jon Jones, who has already defeated him twice previously.

“The reason I think he took the fight with me is because Jon Jones was already fighting in (December),” Lewis said on Wednesday during the UFC 230 open workouts. “He didn’t want to wait until January and hear all the media talk about, ‘Why is Cormier not fighting for the 205 [pound] belt?’ They’re already saying he’s basically scared to fight Jones right now, anyway. He feels like it would be perfect to fight a guy like me that don’t have as much skills on short notice before the Jones fight and he thinks it’s going to be an easy fight for him.

“Yeah, I think he’s scared to fight Jones. The guy beat him twice.”

For his part, Cormier has stated that he was never offered a fight with Jones in December much less turned down an opportunity to face him for a third time.

Check out the rest of Lewis’ interview where he also reveals the real reason he took off his shorts after his win at UFC 229 and much more.