Kevin Lee recently announced he was coming out of retirement, and he has some lofty goals for his return fight.
Lee (19-8) stepped away from the sport after being choked out by Rinat Fakhretdinov in under a minute in his return to the promotion last year. Lee had been let go by the company following an August 2021 loss to Daniel “D-Rod” Rodriguez, in a fight where the “Motown Phenom” also tested positive for Adderall.
Just a week ago, Lee announced he was coming out of retirement, stating he didn’t know “when, where, or who [he would fight against] yet.”
Now, a new interview has Lee targeting some big fights for his return, though it remains to be seen whether the UFC is interested in booking them.
“There’s a couple great fights,” Lee said in a recent interview with MiddleEasy, speaking of opponents he was interested in. “Tony Ferguson, maybe the winner or loser of Conor [McGregor] and [Michael] Chandler.”
“I’m honestly not focused too much on opponents right now. I think I have a long road ahead of me as far as getting healthy,” Lee added. “Two, getting into shape, and three, signing a contract. Then maybe we can look at location and then talk about opponents. So, it’s far down the road for me to be thinking about opponents.”
Kevin Lee’s last win came in Eagle FC in 2022, and saw him get past fellow alum Diego Sanchez. The paved the way for his return to the UFC; his last win in the organization was a 2019 head kick KO of Gregor Gillespie. Overall, Lee is 3-6 dating back to his loss to Tony Ferguson in 2017, a fight that had the UFC interim lightweight title on the line.
A rematch with Ferguson, who is on a disastrous 0-7 skid, feels far more likely than a fight with either McGregor or Chandler, who are supposed to face each other sometime later this year — though the bout has never been officially announced by the promotion.
