Kevin Lee eyes UFC stardom starting with first main event this weekend

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, June 24, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Local lightweight Kevin Lee sometimes struts across the new UFC campus in between training sessions sporting designer clothes and $3,000 sunglasses.

When fellow lightweight Michael Chiesa was based in Las Vegas at the start of his UFC career, it was rare to see him around in anything more than a T-shirt and shorts. It’s no surprise the two came to blows at a news conference promoting their main event scheduled for UFC Fight Night 112, which airs at 6 p.m. Sunday on Fox Sports 1 from Oklahoma City.

“He’s a country boy from the middle of the Redwoods, he drives an old pickup truck,” Lee said. “I’m out here in Las Vegas driving a Benz and wearing a couple grand on me. It sells itself. We clash in every way, every shape and every style. The man still rocks a mullet, for God’s sake.”

The fight between Lee (15-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) and Chiesa (14-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) could have major implications in the 155-pound division where Conor McGregor currently reigns. Lee believes it could have an even bigger impact.

With McGregor on a hiatus from mixed martial arts to face Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match, with some doubting that he'll ever return, the UFC is mired in a shortage of active superstars. The 24-year-old Lee feels ready to fill the void.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t hide that he's tried to get there by developing a persona that’s taken cues from some of the most successful fighters of all-time.

“It’s not even just combat sports or MMA,” Lee said. “It’s everything. I study people that are successful, athletes in general. Outside of athletes, there’s rappers and singers and all these types of people that become superstars. Well, some people say you have ‘the it factor.’ What the (expletive) is that? That doesn’t make sense. What do they do? How do they do it? That’s what I study and try to have a good understanding of.”

Like McGregor, Lee is a staunch advocate of visualization. He’s already pictured how he expects the rest of the year to play out.

It starts with a victory over Chiesa and goes in an interesting direction from there. Lee doesn’t think he will earn a lightweight title shot with his fifth consecutive victory, but rather, a fight for a belt at an all-new weight class. He predicts the UFC will add a 165-pound division by the end of July and calls for an inaugural championship bout between himself and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“I don’t see what the holdup is,” Lee said of the new division. “I don’t see no downside to 165, especially with Conor now fighting Mayweather. He’s holding up that title. Don’t strip the man; make another title. You get more superfights, bigger fights. There’s 150 guys at lightweight all fighting for one title, and the top 30 guys, we all know can win the title. You have the same thing going on at welterweight. You can split that up.”

There’s been no indication from the promotion that they plan to open a new weight class, but that hasn’t stopped Lee from already scheduling his fight with Nurmagomedov.

UFC 219 will be held on Dec. 2 in Lee’s hometown of Detroit, a card he said was announced to feature him.

“I’m going to show them Sunday night that that headlining spot is mine,” Lee said. “Regardless of what happens, that spot is mine. I’m going to go back home, celebrate like a champ and the people are going to love me for it.”

Lee left Detroit immediately after losing in his UFC debut, a unanimous-decision setback to Al Iaquinta at UFC 169 three years ago, seeking better training. He found it locally, as he caught on with the team with Xtreme Couture as well logging time at Mayweather Boxing Club.

He still holds parts of his training camps at those locations, but lately, he’s spent the most time at the UFC’s brand new athlete performance center. And if he proves too flashy for the space crawling with fellow professional fighters, he’s got a solution for that too.

“I told them, ‘You better not give me too much free reign because I’ll walk around here in my drawers all day,’” Lee joked.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.