Kevin Lee News

Justin Golightly - September 16, 2017

After multiple failed attempts to make an interim title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee are going to fight for the interim UFC lightweight belt on October 4th. Meanwhile, Conor McGregor gallavants on yachts reaping the spoils from his multi-multi-million dollar fight with Floyd Mayweather. Not bad for a guy who lost the fight, huh? Kevin Lee didn’t seem impressed with McGregor’s performance, but holds Ferguson in a high regard for the scraps that he’s put down inside the Octagon. “I knew [Floyd] Mayweather was going to beat Conor [McGregor] because Conor’s a quitter. Conor quit during that fight. That’s the thing about fighting, you can’t hide who you really are. If you a b-tch it’s gonna’ show and this is not the first time. It showed in his first Nate Diaz fight. It showed again in the second Nate Diaz fight and it showed versus Mayweather. When you’re slapping around and kind of signaling to the refs that you tired. That’s him wanting to quit. That’s him wanting out. You’ll never see Tony Ferguson like that. Tony Ferguson went to war with [Rafael] dos Anjos for five rounds in Mexico City at altitude. Of course he’s tired, but he’s not going to show it like that.”

Justin Golightly - September 13, 2017

After losing the belt from Conor McGregor’s sniper left hand and an unfortunate no contest with Dustin Poirier, Eddie Alvarez is on his journey back to the UFC lightweight title. He’s coaching the 26th season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Justin Gaethje. If he’s able to derail Gaethje’s hype train, Alvarez (#3) could be next in line for a title shot. That is, if Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson weren’t fighting for the interim lightweight strap. Recently on the Talking Brawls podcast, Eddie Alvarez weighed-in on the match-up. “Who are [Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson]? Who are they? I don’t even know what that fight is. I don’t know what happened there. Out of nowhere, they made an interim belt and had Lee fight Ferguson. This is very odd for me what went on there. I’m surprised at that one, not all the matchmaking, just that in particular one. It seems like I did [The Ultimate Fighter 26], like alright, I’m going to do the show, I’m going to fight Justin [Gaethje] and work my way back to a number one contender and stuff like that.”

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2017

On October 7, in the main event of UFC 216, streaking lightweight contender Tony Ferguson will battle rising star Kevin Lee for the interim UFC lightweight title. It should come as no surprise that the two dynamic lightweights are exchanging plenty of verbal heat in the buildup to this anticipated scrap. The pair’s latest exchange occurred on Twitter, where Kevin Lee got things started, assuring that he’ll dominate Ferguson on the mic when it comes time for trash talk.

Russell Ess - September 8, 2017

Both Kevin Lee and Georges St-Pierre have big fights coming up in the UFC. Lee will be fighting for the UFC interim lightweight title against Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 216 in October. St-Pierre will be making his return to the Octagon after stepping away from competition nearly four years ago and will jump up a weight class to take on Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title at UFC 217 in November.

Justin Golightly - August 31, 2017

Kevin Lee has quietly stacked up five straight wins, finishing four of those opponents. Fingers crossed that the card stays together, UFC 216 will push Lee into his highest profile bout yet. He’s going to headline the card against Tony Fergusonin a fight for the interim UFC lightweight title. Ferguson has already been vocal about what he’s going to do to Kevin Lee, mainly choke him until he slowly fades away into darkness. No kidding, he really said that. Of course, Lee disagreed and doubled down with the guys over at Submission Radio that he’s going to destroy Ferguson like a former Pride and UFC veteran, Quinton Jackson. “I mean, [Tony Ferguson] tries to finish everybody with that weak-ass D’arce choke. I mean, apparently the man believes in it, but he ain’t never faced nobody like me. He’s never faced a wrestler like me. He’s never faced somebody with the movement that I’ve had, especially a weak-ass D’arce choke. And look, if he gonna go for that D’arce, I’m gonna pick him up over my head and I’m gonna Rampage his ass.”

Tom Taylor - August 28, 2017

Given that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has been busy preparing for his Saturday night boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, the UFC has paired Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson together in an interim lightweight title fight. In the opinion of Lee, this interim title battle should be considered a legitimate lightweight championship fight. He broke it down on the latest edition of The MMA Hour.

Tom Taylor - August 22, 2017

Earlier this month, we learned that top lightweight contender Tony Ferguson would be fighting Kevin Lee – not the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov – for the UFC interim lightweight title at UFC 216 this October 7. It did not take long for Lee to start bashing his surprising UFC 216 opponent – and Nurmagomedov. “I’m going to beat the fuck out of Tony,” Lee said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour (h/t MMAMania) “Look, we can take away all the vision, all that, I am going to beat the fuck out of Tony. The man disrespected me, I don’t take that shit. The dude is weird, he’s not that smart. I’m going to crush him in every press conference — or conference call — that we got because the man is really not that smart.”

Tom Taylor - August 21, 2017

Earlier this month, we learned that top lightweight contender Tony Ferguson will battle Kevin Lee – not undefeated Russian star Khabib Nurmagomedov – for UFC interim lightweight gold at UFC 216. Given Ferguson and Nurmagomedov’s rivalry and shared status as the two best lightweights not named Conor McGregor, this news came as a bit of a surprise. In the opinion of Lee, however, the reasons for this fight are pretty simple. “We can cut the bullshit – [Nurmagomedov’s] just being a bitch about it,” Lee recently told MMAjunkie Radio. “He just doesn’t want to fight. Bottom line, he doesn’t want to fight.”

Chris Taylor - August 15, 2017

UFC President Dana White just broke some huge news! Lightweights Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee will square off for the UFC interim lightweight title at October’s UFC 216 event in Las Vegas.

bjpenndotcom - July 22, 2017

On the heels of his massive submission win over Michael Chiesa earlier this month, Kevin Lee was offered a position coaching on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Eddie Alvarez. While Lee apparently accepted the fight in minutes, Alvarez turned the fight down. I've been asked to do TUF and accepted in 2 minutes, @Ealvarezfight turned it down. I'm just waiting on the holdup @Justin_Gaethje.

Tom Taylor - July 20, 2017

On August 26, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will step into the boxing ring with undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather. To promote this fight, the two stars recently engaged in a four-city press tour, stopping in LA, Toronto, Brooklyn and London. As expected, this tour generated hundreds of headlines. Unfortunately, not all of them were positive, as Mayweather dropped a homophobic slur in London, and McGregor caught flack for comments that seemed to have a racist undertone.

bjpenndotcom - July 19, 2017

Last month, veteran UFC referee Mario Yamasaki caught heat for a rather controversial stoppage he made during the UFC Fight Night 112 main event scrap between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee. With Chiesa trapped in a rear naked choke with no escape in sight, ‘The Maverick’ stopped hand fighting the choke, and momentarily appeared to go limp, at which point Yamasaki promptly stopped the fight. Immediately, Chiesa popped up to protest the stoppage, however the fight was already over. The stoppage was an extremely controversial one in the eyes of many because despite Chiesa momentarily stopping his hand fighting, he never verbally, or physically, tapped out.

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2017

On Monday night, Ariel Helwani reported that the UFC was considering Eddie Alvarez as the next opponent for former World Series of Fighting lightweight champ Justin Gaethje, who made his UFC debut on Friday with a wild, TKO defeat of Michael Johnson. Apparently, Gaethje and Alvarez were also being seriously considered as the coaches for the next season of the Ultimate Fighter. According to another UFC lightweight star in “The Motown Phenom” Kevin Lee, however, Alvarez turned down this coaching gig. In a Tuesday afternoon Tweet, Lee claimed that he has accepted The Ultimate Fighter coaching job opposite Gaethje, as Alvarez turned the opportunity down.

Russell Ess - June 28, 2017

You may have missed it, but there was an accident that happened in the Octagon on Sunday at UFC Fight Night 112 in Oklahoma. In one of the most exciting fights on the main card between Felice Herrig and Justine Kish, Kish defecated while fighting off a near fight-ending submission attempt from Herrig. Brown stains could be seen on the canvas shortly after the grappling exchange. Kish was a good sport about the unfortunate incident and joked about the situation on social media following the fight saying, “I am a warrior, and I will never quit #ShitHappens haha be back soon.”

bjpenndotcom - June 28, 2017

This Sunday in Oklahoma City, Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee stepped into the Octagon for a highly anticipated grudge match. The fight didn’t make it out of the first round, as Lee picked up an impressive submission win over Chiesa. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the fight was stopped before Chiesa physically tapped, with referee Mario Yamasaki stopping the fight when Chiesa stopped hand fighting with the choke. While many, including UFC President Dana White, ripped referee Mario Yamasaki for the stoppage, which he also agreed was premature, UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping took things one step further, calling for referees and judges to be held accountable for poor decisions. He spoke on his Believe You Me podcast:

bjpenndotcom - June 27, 2017

Sunday evening, fight fans tuned in for a highly anticipated night of fights in Oklahoma City headlined by a lightweight clash between two of the lightweight division’s most exciting prospects, Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee. The main event scrap, which drew attention following an infamous scuffle at a UFC press conference that saw Lee punch Chiesa, was an extremely controversial one that saw Lee pick up a first round submission victory after referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight after Chiesa stopped hand fighting the submission.

Tom Taylor - June 14, 2017

Last month, the UFC flew the headliners and co-headliners of its upcoming summer events out to Dallas for a stacked press conference. As is so often the case when too many fired-up fighters are shoehorned into a small space together, a number of heated confrontations occurred.  Of all the blowouts to occur at this press conference, none held a candle to the one involving ranked lightweights Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee, whose scrap will headline the UFC’s June 25 visit to Oklahoma City. This scuffle began when Lee reminded Chiesa that his mother would be present when they fought. Lee’s mention of Chiesa’s mother caused Chiesa’s blood to boil, at which point he threatened to slap Lee, and stormed across the cage in his foe’s direction. The two lightweights then collided in the middle of the stage, where Lee cracked Chiesa with a punch.

Tom Taylor - May 31, 2017

Earlier this month, the UFC flew the headliners and co-headliners of all its upcoming shows out to Dallas for a massive, summer kick-off press conference. As is so often the case when too many top fighters are brought together in one small room, drama ensued. Of all the drama that occurred on the stage that day, none was quiet as fiery as the blowout between UFC Oklahoma City headliners Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee. This drama occurred when Kevin Lee pointed out that Michael Chiesa’s mother will be watching when they fight in Oklahoma City. This did not go over well with Chiesa, who threatened Lee, warning him not to speak about his mother. When Lee brushed this threat off, Chiesa stood up, prompting Lee to do the same. The two then stormed to the middle of the stage, where Lee clocked Chiesa with a pretty nice punch.