Kevin Lee: 'Sage Northcutt Isn't a Real Fighter'
Kevin Lee: 'Sage Northcutt Isn't a Real Fighter'
UFC lightweight Kevin Lee isn't happy with the push Sage Northcutt receives and has no issue speaking his mind
Kevin Lee has ever been one to hold back his opinions and he certainly didn't on Chael Sonnen's "You're Welcome" podcast this week.
After winning at the TUF 23 Finale back in July, Lee immediately set about asking for a fight with Al Iaquinta at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden in New York City on Nov. 12. Having first been overlooked for the fight and then seen Iaquinta removed from his bout with Thiago Alves over a contract dispute, Lee questioned whether Iaquinta would ever return to the UFC and revealed that he'd made a rather unique offer to fight him previously.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BKZdJcvjHWW/" hide_caption="0"]
"I think he will look back on this and realize it was a mistake that he's making over a couple of bucks," Lee said. "I offered to do the fight, I said to him we could do it right now and I'll give you my win bonus--you'll make the win bonus. I probably make more money than he does anyway, so once I win I'll give you my win bonus so you don't have to go home empty handed.
"I offered everything that I could. When he was supposed to fight Melendez on the July 15 card last year I was getting ready to fight James Moontasri on the same card and I said I'd step up. All of a sudden [Iaquinta] got a knee injury. I told Joe Silva you take me to the doctor right now and he can tear my meniscus in half and we can go both hobble in that b**ch and we'll throw down.
"They didn't want to do it so I don't know what else I've got to offer. I've offered this guy my win bonus--if money is his issue, I don't know, I just don't know what else I can offer. When he comes back to fight, either I'm going to have surpassed it or he is going to want to fight me and I'm going to turn him down."
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLKCZorDN-G/" hide_caption="0"]
Another target of Lee's was Sage Northcutt, who he has been asking to fight for over a year. Lee believes the UFC has been protecting Northcutt since he was brought into the company and that it's only a matter of time until he's exposed in front of the world.
"Dana's trying to protect the kid and he's brought him in to protect the show because he found him on 'Lookin' for A Fight,'" Lee said. "So they are going to set him up and do what they got to do to do to protect the show but enough is enough. To me, it's like how much more are we going to put up with it? I think every real fight fan knows he's not a real fighter and he's just gimmicky--it is what it is. It's the CM Punk thing.
"After he gets his next one out the way, they have to feed him to the wolves. I think it's time to feed him to the wolves now, but they want to keep him sticking around for a bit. It's never going to pan out."
Northcutt is currently scheduled to fight Mickey Gall on December 17 on UFC on Fox 22. Unsurprisingly, Lee had his own views on why the fight had been put together.
"I think that could be the worse fight they could put together--it's an amateur fight," Lee said. "That last fight they had him fight with the Mexican [he fought Spaniard Enrique Marin] it was f**king embarrassing. He had an amateur fight on the biggest card in UFC history. To me that's embarrassing.
"This is an amateur fight. Mikey Gall hasn't fought anybody that's a real fighter. He fought a reporter, a fan that just kind of wanted to do it in the UFC, and in his second fight he fought CM Punk, which I give a lot of respect to CM Punk, but he's not a fighter you know. He's never fought an actual fight and he's 0-0. To me, this fight [Gall vs. Northcutt] is a dumb option, but I guess it's the only fight they could do to squeeze either of them out another win."
After winning at the TUF 23 Finale back in July, Lee immediately set about asking for a fight with Al Iaquinta at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden in New York City on Nov. 12. Having first been overlooked for the fight and then seen Iaquinta removed from his bout with Thiago Alves over a contract dispute, Lee questioned whether Iaquinta would ever return to the UFC and revealed that he'd made a rather unique offer to fight him previously.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BKZdJcvjHWW/" hide_caption="0"]
"I think he will look back on this and realize it was a mistake that he's making over a couple of bucks," Lee said. "I offered to do the fight, I said to him we could do it right now and I'll give you my win bonus--you'll make the win bonus. I probably make more money than he does anyway, so once I win I'll give you my win bonus so you don't have to go home empty handed.
"I offered everything that I could. When he was supposed to fight Melendez on the July 15 card last year I was getting ready to fight James Moontasri on the same card and I said I'd step up. All of a sudden [Iaquinta] got a knee injury. I told Joe Silva you take me to the doctor right now and he can tear my meniscus in half and we can go both hobble in that b**ch and we'll throw down.
"They didn't want to do it so I don't know what else I've got to offer. I've offered this guy my win bonus--if money is his issue, I don't know, I just don't know what else I can offer. When he comes back to fight, either I'm going to have surpassed it or he is going to want to fight me and I'm going to turn him down."
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLKCZorDN-G/" hide_caption="0"]
Another target of Lee's was Sage Northcutt, who he has been asking to fight for over a year. Lee believes the UFC has been protecting Northcutt since he was brought into the company and that it's only a matter of time until he's exposed in front of the world.
"Dana's trying to protect the kid and he's brought him in to protect the show because he found him on 'Lookin' for A Fight,'" Lee said. "So they are going to set him up and do what they got to do to do to protect the show but enough is enough. To me, it's like how much more are we going to put up with it? I think every real fight fan knows he's not a real fighter and he's just gimmicky--it is what it is. It's the CM Punk thing.
"After he gets his next one out the way, they have to feed him to the wolves. I think it's time to feed him to the wolves now, but they want to keep him sticking around for a bit. It's never going to pan out."
Northcutt is currently scheduled to fight Mickey Gall on December 17 on UFC on Fox 22. Unsurprisingly, Lee had his own views on why the fight had been put together.
"I think that could be the worse fight they could put together--it's an amateur fight," Lee said. "That last fight they had him fight with the Mexican [he fought Spaniard Enrique Marin] it was f**king embarrassing. He had an amateur fight on the biggest card in UFC history. To me that's embarrassing.
"This is an amateur fight. Mikey Gall hasn't fought anybody that's a real fighter. He fought a reporter, a fan that just kind of wanted to do it in the UFC, and in his second fight he fought CM Punk, which I give a lot of respect to CM Punk, but he's not a fighter you know. He's never fought an actual fight and he's 0-0. To me, this fight [Gall vs. Northcutt] is a dumb option, but I guess it's the only fight they could do to squeeze either of them out another win."