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Kevin Lee is only 30 years old. However, it already feels like there's been a lifetime's worth of ups and downs in his MMA career, which seems longer than it might actually be. At one point in time, 'The Motown Phenom' was a high-potential prospect.
Even the great Georges St-Pierre once claimed that Kevin Lee didn't know how good he was. On the surface, hardly anyone could fault 'GSP' for such praise. Kevin Lee is a high-level wrestler with serviceable striking, great physical strength and dynamite in every limb. Or at least, he once was and had all of those things.
Back in mid-2017, 'The Motown Phenom' seemed to be on the cusp of capturing what everyone had always believed him capable of capturing: UFC gold, even if interim. A loss to the then streaking Tony Ferguson, an all-time great lightweight, was crushing. In some minds it only delayed the inevitable.
Yet, six years later, Lee hasn't reached the heights expected of him. This past Saturday, he was soundly beaten in his UFC return. Between injuries undercutting his athleticism, his confidence crumbling and an unsuccessful campaign for a 165-pound division in the UFC, his time ended before it ever even began.
Kevin Lee, the next-generation lightweight
Despite the praise he received during the early stages of his career, Kevin Lee's UFC debut was not the stunning success many had anticipated. 'The Motown Phenom' was scheduled to face the lion-hearted Al Iaquinta. The two men could not have been more different regarding how they were perceived.
Lee was a bundle of potential and a future contender in the lightweight division according to some. Furthermore, he was undefeated and six years his foe's junior. Meanwhile, Iaquinta had already suffered two defeats, and his MMA career was marked more by grit and a hardworking blue-collar mentality than natural talent.
When the two 155-pounders squared off, however, the result stunned the MMA world. Lee, in his promotional debut, lost via unanimous decision to Iaquinta. It would not be the last time that 'The Motown Phenom' tasted defeat against someone thought to be below him.
Fortunately, he was able to rebound by mounting a four-fight win streak. His subsequent bout thereafter came against Leonardo Santos, a man 13 years older. The Brazilian was a massive underdog. Nevertheless, he defied the odds to hand 'The Motown Phenom' his second career loss.
But this time, it wasn't via unanimous decision. Santos didn't need three rounds to get his hand raised. He only needed three minutes, as he TKO'd the lightweight prospect. It was a loss that Kevin Lee couldn't stomach, and it sparked his greatest-ever win streak.
He won five consecutive fights, culminating in a showdown with Michael Chiesa, with whom he brawled at a press conference. Not only did 'The Motown Phenom' finish Chiesa via first-round submission, but in doing so, he defeated the man who beat Al Iaquinta in the latter's UFC debut. It was nothing, if not poetic.
The win catapulted Kevin Lee into title contention. His next opponent was one of the most terrifying lightweights in the division's history: the 155-pound boogeyman, Tony Ferguson.
From title contention to divisional struggles
UFC 216 was set to be the crowning moment of Kevin Lee's career. By then, he had grown more vocal than ever before. He believed that he held the best chance at defeating unbeaten lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov and at dethroning Conor McGregor, who looked invincible after capturing divisional gold from Eddie Alvarez.
So when he faced 'El Cucuy' for the interim lightweight title, his confidence was at an all-time high. For the first half of his bout with Tony Ferguson, things went Kevin Lee's way, as he outstruck his foe and scored takedowns. Unfortunately, 'The Motown Phenom' succeeded only in tiring himself out.
In the third round, Lee fell victim to a triangle choke, and his hopes of becoming a UFC champion were dashed. The loss also revealed a crack in Lee's armor. Once tired, he stopped scrambling after failed takedowns, shot with his head exposed to counter-guillotines, and no longer moved his head off the center-line when striking.
His next bout, against Edson Barboza, earned him a fifth-round TKO, but all fans remember from that matchup is the Brazilian rocking Lee into the chicken dance with a wheel kick. Still, with his confidence riding high once more, he faced his old rival, Al Iaquinta in a rematch.
Before the bout, Kevin Lee taunted his foe, claiming that Iaquinta hadn't evolved as a fighter since their first matchup. Meanwhile, Lee claimed to have only gotten better. Despite it all, the outcome of their second bout was no different from the first: a unanimous decision win in Al Iaquinta's favor.
The loss prompted Lee to move to welterweight, where he faced former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. Unfortunately, he found no luck at 170 pounds, tasting defeat via fourth-round submission. While he bounced back with a spectacular knockout over the undefeated Gregor Gillespie, nothing of note was different.
He suffered a submission loss in his next bout, this time to future titleholder Charles Oliveira. An ACL tear in his left knee followed, sidelining him for the rest of the year. While rehabilitating his left knee post-surgery, he tore his other ACL in his right knee. It was a blow from which he never recovered.
A year later, he returned against Daniel Rodriguez, an opponent he dismissed, along with every other 170-pounder. But with two ACL surgeries, he no longer had the explosiveness he once used to great effect. Lee lost the bout, and it was the last straw. He was released from the UFC.
He subsequently signed with Eagle FC, where he won a competitive fight against a past-his-prime Diego Sanchez. 'The Nightmare', whose career started in 2002, should not have looked as good as he did against Lee, who debuted in 2012.
Worse still, 'The Motown Phenom' injured his knee during the bout. His body, it seemed, was no longer capable of doing what his mind and heart wanted. It was such that upon Lee's UFC return a year later, both his knees were wrapped. Ahead of his return, he was confident in his skills.
His chance to prove it came against the unranked Rinat Fakhretdinov, a Russian 170-pounder with, at the time, 20 wins and just one loss. Lee would not hand him his second defeat. Instead, he became Fakhretdinov's 21st win, courtesy of a first-round guillotine. It was not the triumphant return of the prodigal son.
Kevin Lee has not had a win streak since 2017. He is 3-6 in his last 9 fights, has injured both of his knees, is too big to make lightweight without diminishing returns, and too small for welterweight. With no 165-pound division in the foreseeable future, he is directionless and a future UFC champion no more.
