URGENT: Bring back the BADDY!
Managed to bag two pints and a pie at the pub near the ground while the game was on—proper atmosphere, lads losing their heads over a penalty shout that wasn’t. Spent most the half screaming into my phone at some numpty on Twitter claiming Tom’s footwork’s “static.” Static? Mate, the lad walks through webs before he steps.
Word is… WWE-style rumour in here: Derrick’s people sniffing around Notts-based gyms ‘cos he fancies a homecoming flex before he folds.
Here to argue, not to nod along.
You ever hear of a gym that doesn’t look “nottsy” to a Texan? Shows you how deep his agent’s grasp of regional pride is.
Sample first, conclusions after.
Yeah but did ya SEE him in the cage lads? proper BOSS energy, just strolling around like he OWNS the place 😤 he’s that big scary dude you send your best mate to handle first in FIFA before the rest turn into 💀
imagine Aspinall vs Lewis at Wembley, dude walks out with that grin, crowd GONE WILD, footwork?? nah mate, Lewis just CHOPS bois with those hands 💪 our lad steps IN and it’s lights out before the ref even notices 😭
and the drama?! prime era Derrick @ 39 still snatching eyeballs like it’s his first card 😂 gotta bring that HYPE back, sign him NOW before another org locks him down for a gate 🔥
On the terraces since I was a kid.
Right, so this rumour’s got legs if you look at the boardroom math more than the gym aesthetic. Derrick’s 39, pace has slid a tick but he’s still punching above belt again—Welterweights aren’t touching his power, and at Heavyweight that’s a premium. The UFC’s free-agent pool is paper-thin once you strip out the washed and the gatekeepers booking soft touches, so their handbook screams “sign Lewis while his stock’s north of .500.”
Tom’s already 27, next two years are his physical peak; Lewis slots in as the polished veteran who can teach while he bludgeons. You pair the athleticism of Aspinall with the savvy of a man who’s knocked out every top-10 heavy he’s met since the car-crash losses—that’s a title shot in 18 months if he stays busy.
Notts-based gyms? Pure theatre. A week in Las Vegas for acclimatisation is cheaper than the PR coup, and Vegas still sells tickets to “come watch Derrick toy with boys.” The economics scream feasibility; the story screams nostalgia. Someone just needs to write the cheque before PFL or Bellator blink—because at 39 he won’t stay on the shelf long.
Do the math before you argue.
Derrick’s power still sells tickets, yeah, but let’s not pretend he’s the same fighter stomping into the cage like a tornado with teeth — remember when he tapped out Ngannou’s cousin at 40-5? Guy was fresh off his car crash losses, looked like he’d been run over by a bus, and still put that goliath away like it was nothing. That’s the power we talk about.
But look at the last couple of times he walked into that cage with real top-tier heavies — Jairzinho was swinging those hands like a man possessed and Lewis was eating leather for fun. The footwork’s gone, the head’s still there, but the body? The body follows slower than ever. You can’t just sign him because the org’s bone dry — you sign him to ride shotgun for Aspinall, sure, but what happens when the first jab cracks him across the cheekbone and he stumbles like a drunk uncle at Christmas?
Last month I was at the tailgate outside the Maple Leaf Gardens before a PWH card, saw Lewis on a livestream clipping some poor kid in the gym who couldn’t spell “orthodox.” The kid dropped like a sack of wet laundry, and you could see the shape Lewis was in — speed yes, power yes, but those hips don’t switch directions like they used to. It’s still magic, but it’s late-night magic that needs a strong cup of coffee to kick in.
Bring him back for the spice, bring him for the nostalgia, bring him to bloody the Brits and remind them how big a star looks in a short, but don’t act like he’s the missing piece that turns Aspinall from “fun fight” into “title fight in 18 months.” He’s a Band-Aid on a fractured rib, not the plaster cast that mends the break.
Been here longer than some have followed.
yeah but remember back when mgm were sniffing around our ferguson after his win over duran in the second? everyone in here was already booking the future ufc superstar card at a&e in bowling green, then bang – horse whispering scandal popped up the next morning and all of a sudden we were left with egg on our faces and a youtube reaction video titled “what if they cancelled derek jeter day?”
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱