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The often enigmatic Lightweight, Kevin Lee, will have his return to the octagon delayed substantially.
Since the 27-year-old tapped to Tony Ferguson while making a run for the title, he's had serious issues trying to get a grip of things. The Michigan native has gone 2-4 recently, however.
He had torn his left ACL and had its repair put on hold when the coronavirus struck as hospitals were forced to cancel non life-threatening surgeries. Once he was able to get the go-ahead, the surgery took place and the long six-month recovery process started.
While he was not ready to get back into the octagon, his calendar filled up with a pretty important plan. He was planning on getting Georges St. Pierre ready to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov, if the fight would be made official.
"I feel I know Khabib's game in and out and we're gonna come up with something real nice. Khabib's good, I'll give it to him, but he ain't there. He ain't like that," Kevin Lee said.
Nurmagomedov had expressed interest in doing the fight in April which would be right before Ramadan to close out his career. That would mean a camp would go into full effect mid-January. By then the surgically repaired leg of Kevin Lee would have been healed.
However, Kevin Lee has just suffered a huge setback as he has now ruptured his right ACL. While that does happen sometimes, it's concerning nonetheless.
He immediately got admitted at St. Rose Hospital in Vegas, where posted an update on his Instagram account as well as a video from the emergency room. You can see the post here.
The recent injury will sideline the wrestler from training with GSP and the timeline for his return is unknown at the moment. However, it doesn't look like Lee will be in the octagon before late spring or early summer of 2021 at best.
By then he'll be about ready to turn 29 and will have fallen out of the rankings. During his hot streak, Kevin Lee climbed as high as fourth and currently sits at No. 10.
