Ex-UFC star Kevin Lee not giving up on future clash with Islam Makhachev: ‘I would fight him tomorrow’
Former interim UFC lightweight champion, Kevin Lee has claimed although a potential fight with stablemate, Islam Makhachev is highly unlikely ahead of his GFL (Global Fight League) debut outing, he would jump at the chance to face off with the Russian in the neat future.
Lee, a former interim title challenger and perennial lightweight contender under the banner of the UFC, was announced as the latest addition to the GFL roster last month, ahead of their debut event later this annum, snapping his run of inactivity in mixed martial arts.
Sidelined from the cage since making his return from a speculated retirement back in September of last year, Kevin Lee made an outing under the umbrella of Lights Out Championship, stopping opponent, Thiago Oliveira with a first round rear-naked choke inside just two minutes.
In his most recent Octagon outing, Michigan native, Lee faced off with Russian star, Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC Vegas 76 back in 2023, dropping a dominant opening round guillotine choke submission loss.
Kevin Lee open to Islam Makhachev, Usman Nurmagomedov showdowns
And ahead of his debut outing with the GFL, Lee claimed he would be interested in one day facing off with Makhachev — particularly given the former is now under the Dominance MMA umbrella with manager, Ali Abdelaziz.
“I’ve always felt like I gotta get a world championship,” Kevin Lee told Ariel Helwani for Uncronwed. “I’ve gotta get a world championship — that’s been my dream since I was 16. And it’s gonna come to fruition in either 2025 or 2026. Khabib’s (Nurmagomedov) team, I hear they hold all of the lightweight championships in the world, and one of my goals is to get back and compete against one of those guys. I can’t sit here and tell you I would love to fight Islam (Makhachev) tomorrow — I would. But is it gonna happen? Probably not.”
“But there’s a couple other guys; Usman Nurmagomedov, I would love to compete against him,” Kevin Lee explained. “There’s a lot of guys who are at the top of the weight class right now who I really feel like I could compete really well against and beat those guys.”
During his run with the UFC, Lee competed for an interim lightweight crown in a triangle submission loss to Tony Ferguson, however, turned in notable wins over the likes of Gregor Gillespie, Edson Barboza, Michael Chiesa, Magomed Mustafaev, Francisco Trinaldo, Jake Matthews, and Efrain Escudero.
