Why Kevin Lee wants to fight Islam Makhachev in Russia after UFC 244 knockout

NEW YORK – Kevin Lee wants to take out another lightweight prospect.

Lee (18-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) bounced back emphatically scoring a thunderous first-round head kick knockout over the formerly undefeated Gregor Gillespie (13-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) at UFC 244, and wants to put an end to another hype train.

Not only does Lee want to fight Islam Makhachev, but he wants for it to go down in Russia.

“I do want that fight, I want it in Russia,” Lee told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during his UFC 244 post-fight scrum. “That’s the bigger fight for me. So if he want to fight in Moscow, we can fight. I don’t know no dates of when that is, I didn’t look past this one and I didn’t too much far into the future, but yeah sure that’s definitely a fight I’m interested in.

“That’s another fight that’s going to remind people again and remind myself again. I don’t really give an (expletive) what nobody else think but remind myself again that I’m here, and I’m here to stay.”

A lot of people doubted Lee going into his fight with Gillespie, where he was a betting underdog. He was coming off back-to-back losses to Al Iaquinta, and a failed attempt at a move up to welterweight against Rafael dos Anjos.

So, facing someone that had so much upside like Gillespie was certainly a risk for the former interim lightweight title challenger Lee, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I like the challenge,” Lee said. “This is how my career has been, I always feel like I fight with my back against the wall and that’s going to be another one, in Russia, it’s a big moment so I feel like I’m going to rise to that occasion. If we got to fight somewhere else, cool, but if it’s my pick, let’s do it where you want to do it and see what you got.”

Makhachev (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who’s a longtime training partner of lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, is interested in a fight with Lee. He has responded to Lee’s callouts on numerous occasions on social media, and did so once against to respond to Lee once again after UFC 244 (via Twitter):

Undefeated in the UFC, Makhachev has been dubbed as a future champ by many, including Nurmagomedov, who proceeded to place his belt on Makhachev’s shoulder at the UFC 242 press conference, where both men won their respective bouts on the night.

And those are the kinds of fights Lee is looking for.

“If you ask anybody who’s seen Islam fight or seen him train or anything and they say, ‘Oh yeah, that guy has real potential and he can really fight.’ So that’s a fight that really interests me and I don’t really care who’s the biggest or who’s got the biggest name.”