Kevin Lee admitted to feeling at his lowest following a tough five-round decision loss against Al Iaquinta at UFC Milwaukee — but he also feels he could have had his hand raised.
Milwaukee, WI — Kevin Lee had the look of a man who had been through a war following UFC Milwaukee. Because, in short, he had. Lee’s face wore the scars of that war, swollen and battered. Lee, however, still had it in him to face reporters following the fight. There, he tackled the low he felt after losing, what went wrong, and why he thought he had the win in the bag.
“This sport sometimes has the lowest of lows, and you really don’t feel lower than right now,” he admitted of the loss Saturday night. UFC Milwaukee, the final FOX card, wound up being a fun event, and the main event was a big part of that. Lee was a big part of that, but it certainly didn’t go his way. “I’ll be alright,” he added. “I might not get another shot at Al. I’ve fought a lot of great fighters in my career, and he’s definitely up there amongst them. We’ll see, we’ll see once everything gets settled down.”
As for what went wrong, while he addmited that “I think I let the mind games play into me a little bit,” he wasn’t about to make excuses. “I had a great camp, it was a great cut, everything felt on fire tonight. The first three rounds, I thought for sure I had ’em. And then I just took my foot off the gas. Those are just tactical mistakes that a guy like me shouldn’t be making, and I couldn’t be more disappointed in myself for it.”
What bothers Kevin Lee the most following his loss at UFC Milwaukee is that “I know that I could of went a lot harder. In the Tony [Ferguson] fight I gave everything I had until my body just couldn’t take it no more. In this fight, I ended the fight feeling good, and that’s just an awful feeling.”
Many fans noted the surprised look on Lee’s face when the decision was read Saturday at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, and Iaquinta got his hand raised. As to that reaction, Lee said that “I thought for sure [he had] the first three rounds. I don’t know what the judges were seeing the first rounds. I don’t know if they were giving him points for attempting takedowns. I honestly don’t know, I’d have to rewatch the fight in order to see, but he didn’t hit me with anything the first three rounds.”
While he would later admit that it “was close going into the fifth,” Lee still thought that he’d pulled out the win. But then, “I’m not a judge, that’s not my job, but I felt I could have got that nod.”
Watch the full UFC on FOX 31 post-fight press scrum with Kevin Lee above!
