{"id":662444,"date":"2026-01-08T00:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662444\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T00:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:28:15","slug":"steelers-coach-mike-tomlin-post-game-celebration-was-homage-to-derrick-lewis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662444\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers coach Mike Tomlin: Post-game celebration was homage to Derrick Lewis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Derrick Lewis has fan in legendary Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Following the Steelers\u2019 season-ending victory over the Baltimore Ravens, their heated rivals, Tomlin celebrated by beating his chest and blowing a kiss. If the celebration looked familiar to fight fans, it\u2019s because Tomlin was inspired by UFC heavyweight veteran Derrick Lewis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Tomlin explained the homage in an interview with Rich Eisen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThat\u2019s a tip of the cap to one of my favorite MMA competitors, Derrick Lewis,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cThat\u2019s his celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Lewis, a two-time UFC title (including interim) challenger, is famous for his explosive knockouts, animated celebrations, and lively post-fight interviews. The 40-year-old holds a 20-10 UFC record, with 16 of those victories coming by way of KO\/TKO.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But beyond Lewis\u2019 in-cage accomplishments, Tomlin is a fan of Lewis as a person.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI got so much respect for that dude and how he goes about his business,\u201d Tomlin said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Check out Tomlin\u2019s impression of \u201cThe Black Beast\u201d below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Lewis appreciated the gesture and he reposted video of Tomlin paying homage to him with a simple \u201cthanks coach\u201d on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">January is a busy month for Lewis and Tomlin, the NFL\u2019s longest-tenured head coach. Lewis is scheduled to fight Waldo Cortes-Acosta at UFC 324 on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas, while Tomlin\u2019s Steelers welcome the Houston Texans to Acrisure Stadium for Monday\u2019s AFC Wild Card matchup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Derrick Lewis has fan in legendary Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. Following the Steelers\u2019 season-ending victory over the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,81,11640,11647],"class_list":["post-662444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-latest-news","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115856651565202212","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}