Travis Browne: 'Ignorant' Derrick Lewis will be 'held accountable' at UFC Fight Night 105

HALIFAX – Travis Browne plans to put a halt to Derrick Lewis’ growing momentum as a future UFC heavyweight contender at UFC Fight Night 105.

With Lewis (17-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) riding a five-fight winning streak and Browne (18-5-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) coming off back-to-back losses, the trajectory of Sunday’s headliners couldn’t be any different going into their FS1-televised clash at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Early prelims air on UFC Fight Pass.

Lewis is the predominant face on the event poster and is seemingly getting the greater push by the promotion. It’s understandably challenging to give Browne the same treatment after dropping four of his past fights, but “Hapa” said he’s perfectly fine with that because poster placement doesn’t matter – performance does.

“You have to come out there and perform; you have to come out there and win,” Browne told MMAjunkie. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re on the poster or not. If you lose then it’s still a loss on your record. If you get caught up in the hype and all that, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. For me, it’s just about going out there and getting the win.

“They’re going to have a harder time promoting him come Sunday, whether they want to push him or not. I heard he’s trying to use me as a stepping stone or something like that. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get into a fight. That’s all great and fine and dandy, but when it comes to Sunday the octagon door is going to close, and we’re going to be able to duke it out.”

If the poster hasn’t given Browne an added boost, the pre-fight banter from Lewis certainly provided just that. Lewis brought up Browne’s inconclusive domestic violence investigation by the UFC in mid-2015 and made some bold assertions about what actually happened.

Browne said he hasn’t paid great attention to Lewis’ pre-fight talk, but the items he did catch wind of, he was not impressed with. Browne intends on getting some payback inside the octagon.

“The one thing I did hear him talk about was very ignorant of him to even mention,” Browne said. “It is what it is. The great thing about this sport is you’re going to be held accountable for your words come fight night. I plan on doing so.”

Browne, No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, is in great need of a victory at UFC Fight Night 105. Losses to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 203 and Cain Velasquez at UFC 200 put him on the first two-fight losing skid of his career, and that’s not a stretch Browne wants to see extended.

Although No. 9-ranked Lewis has made waves by winning eight of 10 fights to open his UFC career, an argument can be made he hasn’t competed against anyone of Browne’s caliber. Whether that’s true or not will play out on fight night, but Browne intends on returning to the late-2013 form which saw him score three knockouts in a row and close in on UFC title contention.

“(Winning this fight is) a good start,” Browne said. “(Does it) get me back to where I was? I don’t think it does that, but it’s a good start. … As an athlete, with him being able to come on board and do what he’s done in such a short amount of time you have to be (impressed).”

For more on UFC Fight Night 105, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.