Derrick Lewis on Overcoming His Past

So tell me about your past What about when you were saying going through the system You mean the judicial system What about your past was Yeah I've been in prison Stuff like that I did 3 and a half years in prison For what? For assault, aggravated assault Street fight Oh, for what? I'm kidding Well you should have been at my courthouse You should have been telling that to the judge I would have said that to the judge Your honor, I think this is a mistake Yeah So three and a half years For that and so people wrote you off They felt like this is just You're just going to be trouble your whole life Yeah, especially I had a full scholarship I played the year I ended up getting probation for that I ended up Playing a year at college At Kilgore Dream College I ended up violating because I didn't have a job I had to pay my fines and fees And show up to my meetings Which no one wanted to help me The only one to do So I ended up getting Violated From that and it was only a two year probation At the time, a Jurivocation and so No one wanted to help me To go to my class and help me pay my fines Stuff like that because I was in college You know, didn't have any money And so they Violated me, I went to prison for On the five year since But I got parole three and a half years So you went to prison because Of the violation of not paying the fines Yeah The feeling of being counted out by the system That's one of the main Problems that most people have With our justice system It doesn't really rehabilitate people It makes people feel like there's no hope And in a lot of ways it makes them Resign themselves to a life of crime Oh yeah, yeah Then there's really no Nothing they can really do to help somebody To Rebilitate theyself, you know, whenever they get out There's no programs they can really Like jobs and stuff Some jobs but Not really good paying jobs Like that they really need To really survive out here So from going from that To becoming a successful Martial artist And I know you don't think you can practice Martial arts but you definitely do To be a successful fighter You've Changed your future But I think you've also opened up A lot of people's eyes that maybe They can change their future too If a guy like you can do it Then what's the difference between you and a lot of other people Not much difference Yes, my brother reminds me of that all the time He thinks He's thinking that the fighting is so easy Because I can do it That he believes that he can do it I'm telling you it's completely different Is your brother big like you? Yeah, he's big, yeah Can he fight? Well he can fight in the streets, you know, it's completely different Fighting in the streets than mixed martial arts But yeah, in the streets he can fight How old's your brother? He's 31 I'm recruiting him right now, how much is he weigh? Well he's short though, he's short He's like 5, 10 So's Daniel Cormray, right? Yeah, yeah You can be short and still be the heavyweight champion of the world I mean Mike Tyson too, you know Yeah, but he's, is he interested in doing it? Yeah, he is but I told him no, you're not doing it Really? Why? Because My brother took ghetto first of all They wouldn't, the world wouldn't be able to handle someone like him Really? He's too outspoken and he's real ghetto Man, I don't know if you can tell him to tone it down a little bit I tell him that every day whenever I talk to him He always going live and just want to be ghetto all the time So he can't be doing it, you gotta learn how to turn it off and on And he's like no It's weird shit being famous, isn't it? Oh yeah, yeah But for you, I mean, to come from being incarcerated Not having hope into being in this position now And I mean I can only imagine, it's gotta be completely surreal Surreal, that's what I said It's like I really don't need to get high on nothing or drink anything But it's cool though, it's a plus, you know, we're smoking a little weed here and there Yeah, to relax Relax, take the edge off But does it give you more motivation to keep pushing too Because you realize that what has been possible I mean, you've done an amazing thing with your life Yeah, so it gives me a lot of motivations Like, because I know how easy it is to slip up and go back into those situations Because it was nothing but a street fight that ended bad for the guy I was going against And ended up having to serve almost five years So it could still happen I could walk out of here and get in the street fighting someone And probably be way worse situation I think you got better lawyers now But you're not a, you're an easygoing guy Yeah, I am, yes Now you are But you weren't back then when you were younger Back then I was just, I think I had a lot of anger built up in me I wish, I still do now, but back then it was a lot more I believe it was just the way I was raised You know, wasn't showed that much love in my household And just the family circle I believe that's what led to a lot of my troubles in the street That's a lot of young men Yeah Do you feel like you have a second chance with your children to show them love Because you didn't get that kind of love when you were younger? Oh yeah, for sure My kids are completely different than how I was raised I'm so happy that they're making straight A's in school And making the honor roll every year And already getting scholarships and stuff like that To go to big colleges And so it's like, my life is already unbelievable as it is And just seeing that, that's like making me so proud That's beautiful Yeah, so proud That's amazing, man That's what everybody wants, right? Yes What everybody wants is like a happy life where it all comes together And I think with a person like you, you really appreciate it Because it wasn't always like this Oh yeah, mm-hmm So I tell people all the time, I don't regret I don't wish nothing like that would happen I believe that I had to go through that situation to be a better person than I am today So it's like being raised without a father figure and stuff like that I felt like, to me, everyone is different To me, I felt like I had to go through that situation to be a better father, be a better man here today Because if not, then I for sure would have been going in and out of there So I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do I think that's a really good thing to do to get this full episode of the Joe Rogan Experience