To say that Kevin Lee doesn’t give a fuck, might be the understatement of the year.
The UFC lightweight made it three wins on the trot with his submission victory over Magomed Mustafaev in Belfast on Saturday night. The Motown Phenom dominated with his grappling and put the Russian to sleep with a rear-naked choke at the 4:31 mark of the second round.
After the bout, rather than call out one fighter in particular, Lee used the opportunity to cast a wider net and call out the entire division with his expletive-filled Octagon interview. However, he wasn’t finished with the insults just yet.
Fired up @MoTownPhenom is taking no prisoners at #UFCBelfast! https://t.co/Wbw8dA9QWT
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) November 19, 2016
Lee is on the hunt for UFC gold, but he was unaware that the man who possesses that coveted golden strap was actually in the SSE Arena for the card.
Conor McGregor was in the SSE Arena to cheer on his SBG teammates Charlie Ward and Artem Lobov, but Lee completely missed him. He joked with media after the event (quotes via MMA Junkie) that he did not recognise McGregor because ‘all Irish guys look alike.’
“I actually didn’t know that. Was he here? Oh damn, I would have jumped the cage. He was here, he had to be front row, huh? All Irish guys look alike. I wish I would have known. Somebody could have told me. They all just red beards and bald heads to me.”
Stylistically, he believes he matches up well against the Notorious, but not only that, he also fells he has the requisite attributes to dismantle him.
“He’s the champion of this division now. I said it a while ago I’ll be the champ. He’s 28, I’m 24. He ain’t got nothing but some years on me. I’ve got the skill.”
“I think after his last fight he said you’ve got have some height, some reach, some weight. I’m 195 lbs outside of fighting, 77 inch reach, 5 ft 10, a hell of a wrestler. This fight was about showcasing that I’m the best wrestler in this division.”
Lee was clearly enjoying playing the role of the heel in Belfast all week and when asked would his comments make him fearful of ever fighting in Dublin, he just laughed it off. The Detroit native admitted he doesn’t feel intimidated by anyone from the land of a thousand welcomes.
“I don’t give a fuck. I heard somebody saying that if you go to Dublin you can’t walk around at night. I don’t give a fuck about Dublin. I’m from Detroit. We walk around at night all blacked out. If I was in Detroit or Chicago or something like that, maybe the favelas in Brazil I might be worried, but I don’t give a fuck about these drunk Irish dudes. You push they forehead, they already fall down, they drunk as it is, so I don’t care.”
