Issue 151
February 2017
The lightweight division is the most talent stacked and financially rewarding weight class in MMA right now, led of course by the bankable UFC champion, Conor McGregor.
Legitimate contenders for his belt aren’t thin on the ground, but one man who has been backing up his boasts with his fists is 24-year-old Kevin Lee.
The Detroit native ditched the Motor City and joined Xtreme Couture after signing with the UFC. He’s never looked back. Now a nine-fight Octagon veteran, he’s getting better with every fight and carrying the momentum from seven wins in his last eight fights.
Yet he refuses to be labeled as some kind of prodigy, insisting his success is down to dedication.
“I don’t believe anybody in this game is special. I don’t believe anybody has any kind of natural talent or ability that makes them better than anybody else,” he says. “It’s all about hard work and being committed to the game.
“This is literally all I do. I switched to Las Vegas to do this full-time with zero distractions. Fighting is my life. I’m a big fight fan, man. If I’m not training then I’m usually watching fights are talking about fights.
“I only ever go back to Detroit for the holidays and stuff like that. Just to hang with family and friends. I’m living out here in Nevada to be the best I can be. I can’t do that if I’ve still got one foot back in Detroit”
Becoming the best means he can tangle with the marquee names that are currently jostling for position at the top of the rankings. If he had his way, he’d be standing across the cage from anybody and everybody in the top 10 in his next fight.
“I’ve been calling out everybody. I called out Khabib (Nurmagomedov) back in March, Eddie (Alvarez) in the summer and then Tony Ferguson in August. What more can I do? Nobody wants to fight me.
"All I can do is keep on beating up whoever they put in front of me and keep calling out these so-called contenders until I get my shot. It’s that simple,” he states resolutely.
Confidence is not something Lee is short of. He even called out McGregor in Ireland following his latest victory, a ‘Performance of the Night’ check-securing submission over fancied Russian Magomed Mustafaev in November. Lee remains patient. He knows his time will come.
“McGregor is 28 and I’m 24, so he’s got some years on me. But I’m in this game to be the champ so, of course, I called out the guy with the belt right now. He says to beat him you have to bring something different, that he’s too big.
"Well, I’m 195lb outside of fi ghting with a 77-inch reach. I’m the best wrestler in the division. I believe I’m the guy to beat him, so I called him out. Plus, I was in Ireland, right? And they already billed me as the bad guy, so it just felt right.”
Nurmagomedov would argue he’s the best wrestler at lightweight, but Lee disagrees. “F**k Khabib. I’m talking good, old-fashioned American wrestling right here, none of that sambo buls**t. If he wants to go out there, no punches thrown, I’ll beat him 15-0, no problem.”
