Spirit Intact, Gillespie Praises Lee’s ‘Perfect Kick’

Sarah Stier-USA TODAY Sports

The Sean Salmon highlight reel has finally been retired.

Hats off to once-beaten lightweight bruiser, Gregor Gillespie, who was inducted into the highlight reel hall of fame last Sat. night (Nov. 2, 2019) in New York City. That’s where “The Gift” was unwrapped by one of the most sensational knockouts you’ll ever see.

Watch it again here.

In the wake of his first-round defeat, the first of his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career, Gillespie isn’t making any excuses for his performance or hiding in some dark corner of his gym. Instead, he’s giving props to Kevin Lee for the much-deserved victory.

“He landed a perfectly executed, perfectly timed, unbelievable kick,” Gillespie told MMA Fighting. “People have been saying it was lucky, it was not lucky. It was not unlucky. It was an absolutely perfect kick and it was very well-executed and I give him all the props in the world.”

“I’m in good spirits, you know my ego was hurt a little bit, obviously, someone who never loses and then they lose and you’ve gotta imagine that there’s gonna be some emotions about that, which there were,” he said. “But my spirit is intact.”

The win for Lee, now ranked No. 8 at 155 pounds, marked his return to lightweight after an unsuccessful trip up to 170 pounds. The “Motown Phenom” recently started working alongside Firas Zahabi and Georges St-Pierre inside Tristar Gym in Montreal.

Gillespie dropped one spot in the rankings to No. 12.

“I know that when you ask for better fights like that, your risk of losing goes up,” he said. “That’s kind of how that goes. So that’s something I was definitely very, very aware of. That’s the risk when you’re fighting anyone, especially in the UFC, but when you take a fight against a guy who fought for a title at one point, your risk of getting beat—not just beat, but knocked out—goes up. That’s a risk I was willing to take.”

Respect.