UFC behemoth Derrick Lewis knocks out car thief

Derrick Lewis is not someone you want to mess with. Photo / Jason Oxenham

You picked the wrong guy to steal from.

UFC star Derrick Lewis says he knocked out a would-be car thief after he noticed the man trying to break into his SUV outside his home in Texas.

The 120kg, 190cm heavyweight posted about the incident on social media, uploading a photo to Instagram of the alleged thief being taken away by Houston police with the caption: "Mofo pick right/wrong car to break into. HE'S OK."

Lewis also shared a video clip of the offender being ushered into a police car, and showed off some damage to the side of his car.

"Motherf***er tried to break into my s**t," Lewis said.

The 36-year-old later shared a photo of his closed fist to his Instagram story with "Satisfaction" written above it.

Jodi Silva of the Houston Police Department told MMA Fighting Lewis reported the incident to police at around 9.30am local time after hearing banging noises coming from the driver's side of the car when he returned home from a workout.

"Mr. Lewis says he went over to the suspect, struck him, placed him onto the ground until the police arrived," Silva said. "That's the nicest way to put it."

MMA reporter Ariel Helwani tweeted Lewis told him he "knocked the man out".

The alleged thief was taken to hospital and faces a charge of criminal mischief because, as Silva added, "our winner did not get into the vehicle".

Lewis is on a four-fight winning streak in the UFC, his latest victory coming courtesy of a brutal KO of Curtis Blaydes in February.

Prior to that he secured a TKO win over Alexey Oleynik last August, following on from points victories over Ilir Latifi and Blagoy Ivanov.

The No. 3 ranked heavyweight, Lewis looms as a possible title challenger for reigning champion Francis Ngannou — a match-up UFC President Dana White is keen to see.

The pair fought previously in 2018, Derrick getting the chocolates in one of the most abysmal fights ever to take place in the Octagon.