A two-story mansion in the Houston suburb of Cypress, Texas, is on the market for $1.6 million, and it was once the home of a heavyweight professional fighter.
Derrick Lewis of the Ultimate Fighting Championship bought the property at 18011 Blue Ridge Shores Drive when it was first built in 2018. Lewis and his family lived in the expansive Mediterranean-style home until January 2022, when he sold it to its current owner — Antonio Buchanan.
Since then, the home has served as meetup place for Buchanan whenever his loved ones wanted to have holiday dinners or impromptu celebrations.
"One of my favorite memories is hosting family gatherings where laughter filled every room," Buchanan said in a statement, adding that those moments gave the house its "warmth."
Buchanan's home has five bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms across 5,676 square feet on a 0.3-acre lot, according to the Homes.com listing. Inside, it features a gym, podcast studio, home theater and a game room with a pool table and arcade machines. Outside, the property offers a heated in-ground pool with a hot tub, as well as a three-car garage, a fire pit, a putting green and a trail that leads to a boat ramp for Sunset Harbor North Marina.
"This home has been more than just a place to live," Buchanan said in the statement. "It's been a foundation for growth, a space for connection, and a source of countless meaningful moments."
Buchanan is a former U.S. marshal and Navy aircraft mechanic. He is selling the home now because he took a job with the federal government and had to move to Virginia, listing agent Jamion Blackwell said in an interview.
Lewis had spent roughly $300,000 to upgrade the home before selling it, Blackwell added.
It comes with the furniture — again
The home is being sold with its furniture. Many of those pieces date to when Lewis lived there, including the pool table and dining room table, Blackwell said. All told, the house comes with about $70,000 worth of furniture.
"None of it is garbage," Blackwell said. "The pool table looks like it’s never been used."
Buchanan now lives in a two-bedroom high-rise in Virginia, so he doesn't have space for the furniture in Cypress, Blackwell said.
Community is centered on a private lake
The home sits in a cul-de-sac inside the Cypress' Towne Lake community, which is known locally for its collection of master-planned neighborhoods near a 300-acre private lake. In Towne Lake, where the average home value is $671,597, residents typically swim or sunbathe on its shore while anglers cast their lines and catch largemouth bass, white crappie, and sunfish.
Homes with close access to the lake and boat launches are typically priced from $1 million to more than $2.5 million in Towne Lake. The community is about 30 miles west of Houston.
Selling a Towne Lake home with furniture in it has "been a gamble" because some prospective buyers said they wanted to move in their own pieces, Blackwell said.
Others, however, said they would appreciate not having to buy their own.
Blackwell said he recently showed the home to a family looking to move from Australia to Texas, and they told him that "it would help us out to have these."