They say that all is fair in love, war, and fight promotion, but Derrick Lewis may have taken that a little too far after he released a video of him SPITTING in opponent Alexey Oleynik’s food ahead of their fight this weekend.
Former heavyweight title challenger Lewis takes on submission machine Oleynik in this weekend’s headliner from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and, with both men preparing for the fight inside the UFC’s Performance Institute, it was only a matter of time before their two worlds collided in advance of throwing heavy leather on Saturday night.
Lewis, who has drawn significant praise for the sense of humor he displays on his social media platforms, may have taken things one step too far, however, as well as drawing the ire of the UFC’s stringent COVID-19 policies, after he recorded himself spitting into a pre-prepared meal that had been reserved for his opponent.
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“The UFC Performance Institute gave me my food,” Lewis says in the video.
“But they also gave me Alexey’s food too. Alexey… whatever, I can’t even say his name.
“So, you know, I believe it’s missing some ingredients. We’re still going to get him his meal; it’s very important. It’s fight week, I know he’s going to be hungry.
“It looks good, right?” Lewis exclaims as he opens the container.
“I’m going to add some flavor to his food.”
Wrong guy pic.twitter.com/o6EYz3vnGo
Lewis then proceeded to spit three times on the meal before replacing the covering.
“He probably won’t even notice. He’s from Russia, they don’t have any soul food over there.“
The move didn’t go down well with some of Lewis’ fans on Twitter.
“Dude I am fan of yours but you just disrespected the food here. People are dying of hunger across the world and you did this?” wrote one, while another suggested that Oleynik will now have added motivation to knock Lewis out when he sees the footage.
While it remains to be seen if Lewis would have allowed the meal to be served to Oleynik with its unwanted flavor enhancement included, the fact that he was able to tamper with a meal reserved for his opponent will likely cause a few headaches in the UFC’s HQ, with staff already dealing with new measures designed to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
And if Oleynik is angry at “The Black Beast” for messing with his meals, he will have ample opportunity for revenge inside the cage in Las Vegas this Saturday night at UFC Vegas 6.
