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Kevin Lee has newfound confidence at 155 pounds under his new coach Firas Zahabi. Following a two-fight losing skid, Lee is back on the win column after knocking out then-undefeated fighter Gregor Gillespie. It was a great match-up stylistically and Lee timed his head kick to perception, knocking Gillespie out cold immediately.
Lee was humble after the fight, praising Gillespie as a high-level opponent. He was also honest about where he stood, revealing that he won't be calling out champions any time soon. Instead, Islam Makhachev is a name which he took and one who he believes is an interesting match-up for him.
It's the right fight to make and the one that we'll be seeing, but in an ideal world, Kevin Lee told MMAFighting that he would love to fight Conor McGregor:
“They’re still trying to find an opponent for Conor McGregor on Jan. 18. I know they’re talking about “Cowboy” [Donald Cerrone], but there’s no contract signed there. If he’s a little bit like me, if he’s a competitor at his heart, then he’s going to want to take on the tough wrestler. He should if he wants to get back to Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and really wants to get back into title contention. That fight would make sense."
He was, however, honest about the reality that the fight won't happen.
“It’s not going to happen. I’ll be real. It’s not going to happen. They’re not going to let me within 10 feet of that man, but these are the things that I kind of see.”
Lee would be an interesting fight for McGregor, but it seems clear that the UFC won't use one of McGregor's rare appearances on Kevin Lee. Donald Cerrone and Justin Gaethje are the two names floating around to fight the Irishman on January 18th.
As for Lee, he will continue improving under Zahabi and it's going to be interesting to see where he fits into the equation of the Lightweight division.
