Derrick Lewis can be classified as a superhero in terms of his career – he’s a UFC heavyweight MMA fighter. But now, the Houston fighter can add “hero” to his list of accomplishments. Per MMA Junkie, Lewis has been in the trenches rescuing flood victims following the effects of Hurricane Harvey.

Here’s the kicker: one of the victims included a man trying to save his Confederate flag!

“I picked up one guy and his family, his wife – he just kept apologizing to me, because all he really had was his clothes, and he wanted to take his Confederate flag,” recounted Lewis. “He wanted to take that with him, and he just apologized and said, ‘Man, I’ll sit in the back of your truck, man. I don’t want to have my flag inside of your truck like this.’ I said, ‘Man, I’m not worried about that.’

Despite what the confederate flag represents, Lewis was there to help anyone in need. The man appeared to recognize that, and Lewis assured him that it didn’t matter in the larger scheme of things. “He’s saying, ‘You never know if you ever need someone, so…’ – I already knew where he was going with it. I just said, ‘Don’t even worry about it. It’s OK. I don’t care about that.’ His wife kept hitting him and saying, ‘You should have just left it.’”

Lewis posted pictures and videos of his rescue missions on social media.

As a Texas resident, Lewis had gotten used to the Confederate flag being a part of his life. “I don’t care about that,” he said. “I live in Texas. It ain’t nothing new. I’ve been living in the South all my life, and it ain’t nothing I hadn’t seen before or discussed about. I don’t care about that type of stuff. I just wanted to help him.”

A true hero and another example of love defeating hate.

Confederate flagDerrick LewisHoustonhurricane harveyMMA fighterUFC