Kevin Lee: 'I Want To Add Justin Gaethje To My Highlight Reel'
Kevin Lee: 'I Want To Add Justin Gaethje To My Highlight Reel'
Kevin Lee calls for a fight against Justin Gaethje in Detroit--and he spells out exactly why it makes sense.
Kevin Lee watched Justin Gaethje's UFC debut against Michael Johnson closely.
He liked what he saw. So much, in fact, that Lee--who previously wanted to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov next--wants to take a detour and scrap Gaethje instead.
"Right now, I'm going for Gaethje," Lee told FloCombat. "I like the Gaethje fight. Gaethje's a fun fight, too. Just seeing his mentality--I want to see how many punches he can take. I kind of got that intrigue with Gaethje now.
"They were supposed to do Eddie [Alvarez] vs. Gaethje. Eddie didn't want to take the fight. And it looks like they're going to try to rerun Khabib [Numagomedov] vs. Tony [Ferguson]...I still like the Khabib fight, but I kind of like Gaethje even more now."
To Lee's point on Alvarez, MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani reported the UFC considered running a season of The Ultimate Fighter featuring Gaethje and Alvarez as opposing head coaches.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/884638471905832960" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
Lee confirmed he'd heard the same, but he believes he has an even better idea.
"The UFC knows who the real season is," Lee said. "Nobody's going to watch Alvarez/Gaethje. Let's just throw that out there right now. They're barely even speaking English anymore. They can barely form two sentences together. The Ultimate Fighter's on its last leg anyway. They need help.
"So they called me, they asked me if I'd like to do it, and I told them right away, 'Hell yeah.' They said they approached Alvarez. Alvarez didn't take it...So they're either going to work on it or they're going to move on to someone else. But I don't see them putting together Gaethje and Alvarez as the TUF coaches."
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/MoTownPhenom/status/884814061673734144" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
While a season of The Ultimate Fighter culminating with a bout against Gaethje appeals to Lee from a marketability and visibility standpoint, what's even more exciting to him is simply the prospect of stepping into the Octagon and trading hands with another capable foe. Gaethje, to Lee, is not only fun to watch--he'd be fun to fight and even more fun to beat.
"I see a brawler. I see an easy fight. I see a good fight coming," Lee said. "I think my skills will really come through. He gets frustrated. And he gets frustrated for Michael Johnson and Michael Johnson's talk. Michael Johnson is the worst trash talker in the division. I like the fight, but if you ask me skill-wise, he obviously does a lot of things good, but he's never fought a top-level fighter who's able to move, who's able to stick to a game plan. He's really never fought anybody.
"Even Johnson, he's got 11, 12 losses and he breaks in damn near every fight. He broke in the first round [against Gaethje]. He had the skills to hurt Gaethje and keep coming but he broke in that first round. He broke way before he actually got knocked out, and Gaethje was still getting hit by shots from a dude who broke mentally."
Should the Gaethje fight materialize, Lee also has a venue in mind. That's a common theme with Lee. He speaks things into existence, and he sees his career as a whole, not just one step at a time. He's three steps ahead of the game, and right now is no different. Yes, he wants Gaethje, but there's another layer to the matchup.
Lee wants to wipe Gaethje out in his hometown of Detroit Dec. 2 at UFC 218.
"Detroit is the move," Lee said. "It doesn't matter who they put me against on UFC Detroit. It's going to be a huge fight, a huge card, huge for the sport, and huge in general. It doesn't really matter who they put me against. I would like that fight, though, just because I want to add Gaethje to my highlight reel.
"But we'll see what happens. Khabib and Tony are going to fight. I don't know when they're going to fight, but if they fight within the next month or two, maybe we'll take a matchup with them. There are a lot of options."
Wrapping a bow around the Alvarez dilemma, Lee went ahead and solved that problem for the UFC too.
"I think it's just people blowing smoke up their ass, saying they're trying to make Eddie and Gaethje, because Eddie's coming off a controversial no-contest," Lee said. "He should run that back with [Dustin] Poirier. Apparently he don't want to fight anybody else, so they should go ahead and run that back and leave Gaethje to me. It can even be on the same card. Put him and Poirier on the undercard of me vs. Gaethje in Detroit."
He liked what he saw. So much, in fact, that Lee--who previously wanted to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov next--wants to take a detour and scrap Gaethje instead.
"Right now, I'm going for Gaethje," Lee told FloCombat. "I like the Gaethje fight. Gaethje's a fun fight, too. Just seeing his mentality--I want to see how many punches he can take. I kind of got that intrigue with Gaethje now.
"They were supposed to do Eddie [Alvarez] vs. Gaethje. Eddie didn't want to take the fight. And it looks like they're going to try to rerun Khabib [Numagomedov] vs. Tony [Ferguson]...I still like the Khabib fight, but I kind of like Gaethje even more now."
To Lee's point on Alvarez, MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani reported the UFC considered running a season of The Ultimate Fighter featuring Gaethje and Alvarez as opposing head coaches.
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/884638471905832960" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
Lee confirmed he'd heard the same, but he believes he has an even better idea.
"The UFC knows who the real season is," Lee said. "Nobody's going to watch Alvarez/Gaethje. Let's just throw that out there right now. They're barely even speaking English anymore. They can barely form two sentences together. The Ultimate Fighter's on its last leg anyway. They need help.
"So they called me, they asked me if I'd like to do it, and I told them right away, 'Hell yeah.' They said they approached Alvarez. Alvarez didn't take it...So they're either going to work on it or they're going to move on to someone else. But I don't see them putting together Gaethje and Alvarez as the TUF coaches."
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/MoTownPhenom/status/884814061673734144" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
While a season of The Ultimate Fighter culminating with a bout against Gaethje appeals to Lee from a marketability and visibility standpoint, what's even more exciting to him is simply the prospect of stepping into the Octagon and trading hands with another capable foe. Gaethje, to Lee, is not only fun to watch--he'd be fun to fight and even more fun to beat.
"I see a brawler. I see an easy fight. I see a good fight coming," Lee said. "I think my skills will really come through. He gets frustrated. And he gets frustrated for Michael Johnson and Michael Johnson's talk. Michael Johnson is the worst trash talker in the division. I like the fight, but if you ask me skill-wise, he obviously does a lot of things good, but he's never fought a top-level fighter who's able to move, who's able to stick to a game plan. He's really never fought anybody.
"Even Johnson, he's got 11, 12 losses and he breaks in damn near every fight. He broke in the first round [against Gaethje]. He had the skills to hurt Gaethje and keep coming but he broke in that first round. He broke way before he actually got knocked out, and Gaethje was still getting hit by shots from a dude who broke mentally."
Should the Gaethje fight materialize, Lee also has a venue in mind. That's a common theme with Lee. He speaks things into existence, and he sees his career as a whole, not just one step at a time. He's three steps ahead of the game, and right now is no different. Yes, he wants Gaethje, but there's another layer to the matchup.
Lee wants to wipe Gaethje out in his hometown of Detroit Dec. 2 at UFC 218.
"Detroit is the move," Lee said. "It doesn't matter who they put me against on UFC Detroit. It's going to be a huge fight, a huge card, huge for the sport, and huge in general. It doesn't really matter who they put me against. I would like that fight, though, just because I want to add Gaethje to my highlight reel.
"But we'll see what happens. Khabib and Tony are going to fight. I don't know when they're going to fight, but if they fight within the next month or two, maybe we'll take a matchup with them. There are a lot of options."
Wrapping a bow around the Alvarez dilemma, Lee went ahead and solved that problem for the UFC too.
"I think it's just people blowing smoke up their ass, saying they're trying to make Eddie and Gaethje, because Eddie's coming off a controversial no-contest," Lee said. "He should run that back with [Dustin] Poirier. Apparently he don't want to fight anybody else, so they should go ahead and run that back and leave Gaethje to me. It can even be on the same card. Put him and Poirier on the undercard of me vs. Gaethje in Detroit."