What happened to Derrick Lewis? UFC Edmonton withdrawal still a mystery

Lewis had medical issues and did not enter the octagon UFC Edmonton (Photo: Facebook Derricklewis)

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Six Brazilians were scheduled to fight in the UFC Edmonton, which took place this Saturday (2) in Canada. However, in a fight valid for the heavyweights (up to 120,2 kg), Jonathan Diniz did not enter the octagon. This is because his opponent, Derrick Lewis, who holds the organization's all-time knockout record, had a 'mysterious medical issue' and had to pull out of the fight.

During a post-event press conference, UFC executive Dave Shaw ruled out that the problem was caused by the weight cut and revealed that Lewis experienced a 'real-time' drama behind the scenes in Edmonton.

“There’s nothing to update other than what was officially announced. It wasn’t a fight-related medical issue or a weight-cutting-related medical issue. The situation yesterday was all… it all happened in real time. So we really didn’t have enough answers at the time of the ceremonial weigh-ins yesterday. He weighed in yesterday morning, had to cut a little bit, but that’s not unusual for him. And then throughout the afternoon, he started receiving medical treatment and we just didn’t have any answers. So at that point, it made more sense for us to proceed with the weigh-ins with Diniz and try to figure out what was going on before making any decisions. But there’s no substitute for taking the safe route when it comes to the health and safety of the athlete. So it was the right decision not to compete,” Shaw said in his statement.

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With Lewis' withdrawal, the fight between Ariane da Silva e Jasmine Jasudavicius moved up to the main card. The Brazilian lost after being completed. Now the fight of Jonathan Diniz was later rescheduled against Marcin tybura No. UFC 309.

This is not the first time that Derrick Lewis leaves a fight against a Brazilian at the last minute. In October 2017, the American was also pulled from a fight against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 216, citing back pain. He was replaced by Walt Harris in that confrontation.