AUSTIN, Texas – Derrick Lewis apparently is feeling quite refreshed going into his return Sunday at UFC Fight Night 126.

When Lewis (18-5-1 MMA, 9-3 UFC) steps in the octagon for his heavyweight co-headliner with Marcin Tybura (16-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) on the FS1-televised card at Frank Erwin Center, it will have been eight months since “The Black Beast” competed, the longest break of his UFC career.

Lewis said he’s been plagued with a back injury for the past several years. The issue forced him to withdraw from a scheduled bout against Fabricio Werdum on fight day at UFC 216 in October and was one of the reasons he couldn’t compete to his usual standard in a loss to Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 110 in June.

The time away from competition has allowed Lewis to find the solution to his physical ailments. He said a weekly injection of magnesium has allowed him to return to 100 percent, which hasn’t been the case in a very long time.

“I really haven’t trained the last few years the way I’ve supposed to be training because of my back issue,” Lewis told MMAjunkie. “We fixed it, and I trained my ass off for this fight. … I still feel like I’ve got a lot left in the tank. I’m taking my training more serious, my diet more serious. I’m just giving myself a chance. Before I wasn’t giving myself a chance. Doing half-ass training, my coaches would try to push me, and I’m still half-ass training. But this camp right here, I really pushed myself to the limits.

“I don’t have no pain nowhere, nothing. I’m training more than 30 minutes a day. I’m doing two-a-days. I’ve been doing two-a-days, training more than just stair master for 15 minutes and hitting pads for 15 minutes. I’ve been doing more than just that.”

Lewis always has made it clear that his motivation for fighting is simply to support his family. Despite his intimidating presence and extraordinary knockout power, he said he’s not the biggest fan of actual combat. He likes the paydays that come with being in the UFC, though, and he said he’s more focused on making sure he gets every dollar by winning fights.

“Of course it’s about the money and stuff like that, but I am hungrier than I was before, back in 2010 when I first started MMA,” Lewis said. “I feel ready to go. I got the rest that I needed and the time off, and I feel ready.”

Lewis, No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, knows his greatest chance of earning bigger paydays comes through climbing to the top of the division. He knows the path that will get him there, and according to Lewis, it goes through Tybura, remaking the failed matchup with Werdum (23-7-1 MMA, 11-4 UFC), then settling his ongoing beef with fellow knockout artist Francis Ngannou (11-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC).

“We can see if we can rise up in the ranks and try to get paid more this year,” Lewis said. “Hopefully I can fight four more times this year. Hopefully I get Ngannou sometime down the line. He said he wanted some time off, but we’ll see. I’ve got to get past Tybura, and hopefully if I can get past him, I want Fabricio, then Ngannou sometime this year. Because I know he wanted time off (after losing to Stipe Miocic at UFC 220).”

Although Lewis competing in any of the matchups mentioned would be beneficial to his career, he’s understanding that his road map for the future will only play out as desired if he wins at UFC Fight Night 126. He said Tybura is a worthy opponent, but like every other, he intends to take him out.

“Hopefully he doesn’t really try to take me down,” Lewis said. “Hopefully that’s not the game plan that his camp has. If so, that’s going to be a problem for him if he tries to take me down. If I get on top and he tries to take me down, and I reverse him or whatever, that’s just going to be a bad situation for him.

For more on UFC Fight Night 126, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.