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John Lewis

Training Style

“It basically starts with boxing then a couple hours of grappling with multiple partners. I then swim with a coach. Then usually another class grappling at night.”

UFC History

UFC 22 Lewis defeated BJJ stylist, Lowell Anderson 18 seconds into the third round, when Anderson's corner threw in the towel after a strong knee and a kick. Lewis had a lot of reach on Anderson and kept him at bay for most of the fight with punches. Anderson got frustrated and charged Lewis in the third where he got nailed with a barrage that caused his corner to throw in the towel.

At UFC 28, John lost to Jens Pulver by knockout.

More Information

John has schools in Hawaii and Las Vegas. John started training in Japanese kickboxing at 15 years old. He received his black belt in that system and then he trained with and earned his Black Belt under legendary grappler, Gene LeBell. He also trained with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend, Rickson Gracie. “I was doing two arts at a time most of my life.”

Lewis knew John Perretti, who ended up using him in his Extreme Fighting show. He had fought in Hawaii before that. In his first EFC match he took on Carlson Gracie, Jr. Gracie, Jr. was heavily favored but Lewis shocked everyone by taking the match to a draw. Fighting in shows without judges earned Lewis three draws that probably would have been victories for him if the shows had judges. He had a great match with Rumina Sato that went to a draw, but Rumina won by armbar in a rematch. John would love to do it a third time. “The second time I only had four days to train because I was so sick. They offered me a lot of money to fight, win, lose or draw. I thought I could just hold on and survive and make my money but he was on and I wasn’t. The second match wasn’t a true representation of what I could have done.”

John’s MMA record is 8 wins, 3 losses, and 4 draws.

Lewis has merged his schools with Jiu-Jitsu fighter Andre Pederneiras. John says he has no problem making weight for the new Bantamweight division. “My walk around weight is 156 to 157. I have always fought guys cutting down to 170 weighing what I do now.” In the Bantamweight division Lewis will enjoy a tremendous reach advantage over most of his opponents. “I must have a really light type of bone. Not a weak bone but it must be light or something because I’ve never stood in front of someone who was my weight who wasn’t way shorter than me.” John has been training lately with B.J Penn, who is the first American to win a black belt division Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Championship. John has released a music CD called Cool Heart/Bad Attitude and it is available at lewisjiujitsu.com