UFC women’s flyweight Andrea Lee returns at UFC 292, looking to put a controversial loss to Maycee Barber behind her.
Ahead of her fight with Natalia Silva at the TD Garden this Saturday, Lee (13-7) told Cageside Press that with everything going smoothly in camp, she’s expecting a banger of a fight.
“Camp has been very smoothly. Honestly, I feel like I’ve been in camp since last year. It’s just been non-stop,” said Lee. “I feel very well-prepared for this fight, and I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be— it’s gonna be a banger.”
Her loss to Barber back in March came via split decision, with many scoring it the other way. But “KGB” Lee isn’t upset with her opponent getting one over on her. The judges, however, are another story.
“I’m not mad at Maycee. I don’t hold any grudge or ill will against her because of the judges’ decision. But as far as the judging goes, I just feel like, what were they watching? I feel like at the end of that fight, it was definitely mine,” Lee stated. “Of course there were some things that I could have done more, to be more aggressive during the rounds. But I felt like I was aggressive enough and displayed my dominance during the fight. I had five out of five takedowns and I had almost, I think around eight minutes of control time.”
Watching the current season of The Ultimate Fighter had Lee note that coach Michael Chandler said to focus on “control over damage.” “And that’s coming from Chandler. At the end of my fight, everybody said ‘oh there was more damage done, Maycee did more damage.’ But really I had a little black eye here maybe, some red marks. She had a busted nose, she had some bruises. It was pretty fairly equal. I just think that I won the fight, and it’s disheartening. Especially, she gets to go on and get a main event spot right after that. And she did great in her next fight, and I’m glad that she actually won that fight. But I think that I beat Maycee, and there’s not really much that I can do about it.”
Lee revealed that none other than Joe Rogan reached out to her after the bout, “and offered up his opinion and said that he felt I had won that fight, and was sorry that they had screwed me. But it is what it is.”
It’s on to a new face now, however, in Natalia Silva. Lee knows what this match-up signals, and she’s eager to prove that she’s not just a gatekeeper.
“I know that she’s an up-and-coming prospect, and I don’t know what people are really thinking about me, as far as where I stand now. Maybe they think that I’m a gatekeeper, whatever. But I’m just going to prove that I’m not a gatekeeper, that I’m still a contender, and that I’m still going to get my opportunity to fight for the title and I’m still in the mix. And I’m not on my way out, by no means. Actually I’m just getting better.”
Watch our full interview with UFC 292’s Andrea Lee above.
