Former interim UFC light-weight champion, Kevin Lee has claimed though a possible combat with stablemate, Islam Makhachev is very unlikely forward of his GFL (International Struggle League) debut outing, he would leap on the likelihood to face off with the Russian within the neat future.
Lee, a former interim title challenger and perennial light-weight contender beneath the banner of the UFC, was introduced as the most recent addition to the GFL roster final month, forward of their debut occasion later this annum, snapping his run of inactivity in combined martial arts.
Sidelined from the cage since making his return from a speculated retirement again in September of final 12 months, Kevin Lee made an outing beneath the umbrella of Lights Out Championship, stopping opponent, Thiago Oliveira with a primary spherical rear-naked choke inside simply two minutes.
In his most up-to-date Octagon outing, Michigan native, Lee confronted off with Russian star, Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC Vegas 76 again in 2023, dropping a dominant opening spherical guillotine choke submission loss.
Kevin Lee open to Islam Makhachev, Usman Nurmagomedov showdowns
And forward of his debut outing with the GFL, Lee claimed he can be focused on in the future going through off with Makhachev — significantly given the previous is now beneath the Dominance MMA umbrella with supervisor, Ali Abdelaziz.
Picture through: Getty
“I’ve always felt like I gotta get a world championship,” Kevin Lee informed Ariel Helwani for Uncronwed. “I’ve gotta get a world championship — that’s been my dream since I was 16. And it’s gonna come to fruition in either 2025 or 2026. Khabib’s (Nurmagomedov) team, I hear they hold all of the lightweight championships in the world, and one of my goals is to get back and compete against one of those guys. I can’t sit here and tell you I would love to fight Islam (Makhachev) tomorrow — I would. But is it gonna happen? Probably not.”
“But there’s a couple other guys; Usman Nurmagomedov, I would love to compete against him,” Kevin Lee defined. “There’s a lot of guys who are at the top of the weight class right now who I really feel like I could compete really well against and beat those guys.”
Throughout his run with the UFC, Lee competed for an interim light-weight crown in a triangle submission loss to Tony Ferguson, nevertheless, turned in notable wins over the likes of Gregor Gillespie, Edson Barboza, Michael Chiesa, Magomed Mustafaev, Francisco Trinaldo, Jake Matthews, and Efrain Escudero.
