It’s been a long and frankly exciting road to stardom for Keith Lee, a former Bellator fighter and brother of UFC veteran Kevin Lee.
Lee, 29, went 8-5 in MMA from 2017 to 2022, including a four-fight stint in Bellator with an even split of wins and losses. Despite a win over Jeremiah Labiano under Uriah Faber’s A1 Combat in September 2022, Lee was already on his way as a social media food critic, amassing millions of views on streaming platform TikTok.
Now, at the inaugural TikTok Awards in Los Angeles this week, Lee has been named Creator of the Year. In addition, the streaming platform, set to see its U.S. operations sold to a group of investors (taking it out from under the umbrella of Chinese parent company ByteDance), is donating $50,000 to to Feeding America, a charity combating food insecurity.
The awards were held at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, CA and hosted by TV’s La La Anthony. Winners were voted on by fans.
Lee is best known for his simple, to the point reviews of everything from mom and pop shop restaurants to fast food joint promotional meals, including The SpongeBob meal at Burger King and countless others.
Lee’s mere presence at a restaurant and a favorable review has been known to send sales skyrocketing, leading to what has become known as “The Keith Lee Effect.” The fighter-turned-creator has over 17 million followers on the video streaming platform.
