Sorry, “Motown Phenom,” you are not needed.
Over the previous yr, former Final Preventing Championship (UFC) interim Light-weight title challenger Kevin Lee has been attempting to get again to his outdated promotion after a disastrous remaining battle during which he was demolished in lower than a minute (watch highlights).
After his loss, Lee retired, however identical to each different blended martial arts (MMA) retirement, six months later, he was again. Nonetheless, he wasn’t again within the UFC as a result of “Motown Phenom” was launched following his retirement.
To his credit score, Lee tried each which solution to get again to UFC, even asking to battle on Contender Collection for a measly $5,000, however he acquired no reply.
In the present day (Tues., Jan. 7, 2024), Lee revealed that his former promotion is not .
“I actually need to compete. For me, cash is not essentially the most important difficulty; I stated I might take that battle for $5k on Contender Collection towards one of the best Contender they acquired,” Lee instructed Ariel Helwani. “They weren’t excited by that. Why? I do not know. I did not have a lot dialog with the UFC apart from Sean Shelby, and he stated he wasn’t actually excited by one thing like that. After I speak with Ali [Abdelaziz], and he tells me something in regards to the UFC, he says they are not in any respect.”
“Why that’s? I could not inform you. I have been in a few of the largest fights in UFC historical past. I completed off their Fox deal going into the ESPN deal, and I am a reasonably simple man to work with,” Lee concluded. “I really feel like I am skilled, I do what I have to do, and I do not rub too many individuals the flawed approach. Why they did not need me to go on Contender Collection to show I am nonetheless among the best 155ers on the market, I do not know, however I am going to be sure this subsequent time, there isn’t any doubt.”
With UFC out of the image for now, Lee is presently signed with International Combat League (GFL), which is rumored to have its first occasion in April 2025. For his first battle, Lee would possibly attempt to actual revenge on a former rival … Tony Ferguson, who tapped him out in 2016 at UFC 216 (watch highlights).
