Don’t Panic But Kevin Lee Weighs As Much as a Welterweight Right Now

We’re mere days away from Tony Ferguson finally stepping back into the Octagon, after being plagued by some bad luck at the hands of Khabib Nurmagomedov. It seemed like MMA’s Groundhog Day. The fight would always go along and just never happen. Jokes about Nurmagomedov eating tiramisu caused by the UFC Embedded show leading up to the fight came and went, and came… and went again. Now, it’s been reported that Kevin Lee weighs as if he’s about to challenge for the interim welterweight title instead of the lightweight. Worst of all, he may have enjoyed tiramisu himself.

… about the tiramisu, not the 174 pounds. Needs to hit 155 pounds in around 21.5 hours.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 5, 2017

Ferguson on Lee’s current weight: “that’s cute.”

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 5, 2017

“Oh yeah, yeah [I ate tiramisu], I didn’t take a picture of it. And I just enjoy tiramisu, I ain’t no b-tch. If you out there and tiramisu is the reason why you don’t go out there and make a lot of money and put your life on the line for these folks then eh… and I ain’t got 4,000 Russians showing up for me!” — Kevin Lee speaking to media during the UFC 216 open workouts.

If you’re not good with math, Kevin Lee has to lose 19lbs in about 20 hours. Everyone, please, don’t panic yet though. We have the security of knowing Lee has never missed weight for a fight before, also benefiting from being a young athlete. Besides, it seems like this is commonplace for most of the UFC’s lightweight fighters. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s healthy. For the record, Kevin Lee critiqued the entire cutting and weight class system in the past. Provided everyone makes weight, Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee will fight on Saturday night at UFC 216 for an interim lightweight title.

“It’s ridiculous that I have to do that cut, but that’s what we’ve got to do. That’s one of the big things. This fight is even bigger than people realize, because I think there shouldn’t be a holdup on the 165-pound division. I think they should open it up now. I think after July, they’re going to open it up. I like the plan. I think Nevada should do it, as well. I think every commission should do it. It’s ridiculous that we cut weight. It just is. It’s stupid. You take Mike Chiesa, I guarantee he’s sitting at 180 pounds right now. Why are we fighting at 155? I don’t know. The whole way that weight classes are even structured in MMA is stupid. Hardcore fans don’t give a damn what you fight at. If you both fight at 170, they don’t give a damn. It’s still the same fight.” — Kevin Lee speaking back in June to MMA Junkie.  

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/5/2017.