Kevin Lee reacts to Charles Oliveira fight going down behind closed doors

By Tom Taylor - March 12, 2020

When Kevin Lee fights Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC Brasilia this weekend, there will not be any fans in the building. That’s because the UFC has converted the card to a closed-door event to mitigate risk associated with the coronavirus.

Kevin Lee, Bernie Sanders, Charles Oliveira, UFC Brasilia

While this quiet, closed-door event will be an unfamiliar setting for Lee, he doesn’t seem to worried about it.

The lightweight contender reacted to this unfortunate shake-up on Twitter on Thursday.

“I’m good with fighting in an empty arena,” Lee wrote. “Let’s not panic too crazy, let us fight, entertain the people stuck at home.”

Kevin Lee will enter the cage at UFC Brasilia with a huge win in the rear-view. Back in November, on the main card of UFC 244, he picked up a devastating knockout victory over the formerly undefeated Gregor Gillespie. This win separated him from a pair of tough losses to Rafael dos Anjos and Al Iaquinta.

Lee recently relocated his training camp to Tristar in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the gym behind Georges St-Pierre. So far, the move seems to be paying dividends.

Charles Oliveira, meanwhile, is on a fantastic six-fight win-streak highlighted by stoppage wins over Clay Guida, Jim Miller, David Teymur, Nik Lentz, and most recently Jared Gordon, who he knocked out on the UFC’s November stop in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

At present, Oliveira hasn’t commented on the change of circumstances surrounding the UFC Brasilia card, but we can probably expect him to react much like Lee.

UFC Brasilia is far from the first card to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. A long list of events from promotions like ONE Championship, KSW, and Venator have already been a impacted, and there’s probably lots more to come.

Catch Kevin Lee back in action in an empty arena this Saturday on ESPN+.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 3/12/2020.


Topics:

Kevin Lee UFC