Derrick Lewis is less than a week away from his headlining slot at UFC Sao Paulo, but he’s in a bit of legal trouble back home.
Lewis, 38, has been hit with a misdemeanor reckless driving charge in Harris County, Texas. He was arrested and charged on October 25, with a court date expected on December 27, per records obtained by Cageside Press.
The heavyweight posted $100 bond, and his fight with Jailton Almeida is expected to proceed as planned.
News of Lewis’ arrest was first reported by FOX 26 in Houston. Per that report, Lewis was clocked driving 136 mph in a 50 mph zone in his Lamborghini, and making unsafe lane changes, swerving in and out of lanes. The report added that school buses were in the area at the time.
Lewis, born in Louisiana, is a longtime Texas resident who got back in the win column at UFC 291 in July, snapping a three-fight skid with a finish of Marcos Rogerio de Lima set up by a flying knee. Prior to that, he had dropped bouts against Tai Tuivasa, Sergei Pavlovich, and Serghei Spivac. “The Black Beast” holds the record for most knockouts in UFC heavyweight division history.
The hard-hitting heavyweight previously did time for aggravated assault in 2004, but jail time is not likely to be in the cards for a misdemeanor driving infraction.
UFC Sao Paulo goes down Saturday, November 4, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil with the following match-ups attached to the card:
- Jailton Almeida vs. Derrick Lewis
- Gabriel Bonfim vs. Nicolas Dalby
- Rodrigo Nascimento vs. Don’Tale Mayes
- Caio Borralho vs. Abus Magomedov
- Rodolfo Vieira vs. Armen Petrosyan
- Ismael Bonfim vs. Vinc Pichel
- Elves Brener vs. Esteban Ribovics
- Victor Hugo vs. Daniel Marcos
- Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Rinat Fakhretdinov
- Vitor Petrino vs. Modestas Bukauskas
- Angela Hill vs. Denise Gomes
- Eduarda Moura vs. Montserrat Ruiz
- Kauê Fernandes vs. Marc Diakiese
