Because of his silly and breezy personality along with frequently self-deprecating comments, Derrick Lewis fostered a reputation as being not serious regarding his fight career. As such, he has for a long time been overlooked as a title contender, and even now, is being mostly discounted as a title threat to current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in their UFC 230 main event matchup.
Despite winning nine of his last 10 fights, including seven via knockout, Lewis is a serious underdog in the betting lines; as much as 5-to-1 on some books.