View the original article to see embedded media.
Former UFC interim title challenger Kevin Lee (18-7 MMA, 11-7 UFC) isn't planning on a slow road back to the top now that he's returned to the promotion.
"The Motown Phenom" competed once outside the UFC, a March 2022 win over Diego Sanchez at Eagle FC, but recently returned to the sport's biggest promotion, where the former lightweight plans on making a run in the welterweight division.
"I'm up a weight class," Lee told MMA Underground. "I'm at 170, and it's permanent. It's not like before where I was kind of dibbling and dabbling, knowing that I was going to go back down to '55. This time I'm 100 percent locked in on this division, and that by itself feels like a fresh start."
Lee debuted in the UFC in 2014 at just 21 years old, going on a 9-2 run that earned him a label as one of the sport's top prospects. However a failed bid for an interim lightweight belt in a 2017 pay-per-view headliner against Tony Ferguson marked the start of a frustrating 2-5 stretch that also saw Lee miss weight on two occasions.
In his lone Eagle FC appearance, Lee competed at 165 pounds, and now that he's back in the UFC, he'll focus on 170.
"I've got a really solid, solid team at Kill Cliff and a lot of the top welterweights, you know, and I'm hanging in there with a lot of the top welterweights, so size is no longer going to be a factor," Lee said. "They just know how to train guys around my weight, and Henri Hooft is one of the best minds of the sport. That's unquestionable."
Lee's return date to the promotion has yet to be booked, but he's hoping to receive word soon. Now a Florida resident, the 30-year-old veteran was hoping to compete at UFC 287 on April 8 in Miami, but he said that possibility is looking less likely by the day. However, Lee said he's continuing to push for something behind the scenes and is hoping for a top-ranked opponent, singling out available names like No. 3 Khamzat Chimaev and No. 8 Sean Brady.
"We're throwing out some names, you know?" Lee said. "I think Sean Brady is a fight that should happen. A lot of people don't understand that was the fight I was supposed to have and he got hurt, and I fought Daniel Rodriguez on short notice. It was actually scheduled to be me and Sean Brady first, so I would love to run that one back.
"There's a lot of guys. You know, when I called out Khamzat, right? I called him out a couple of weeks ago. I was dead serious. I'm dead serious about that fight. I would love that fight. If they did that next, I would love it, but I don't know if it's going to happen. I think he's going up to 185 or he's going to do his own thing, but when I say I'll fight the toughest guys, people know me. People know this is what I do, and I'm here for the biggest challenges."
