Kevin Lee silenced “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” and he’s ready to do it all again.
This time, Lee (18-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) will face the hostile Brazilian crowd, when he takes on Charles Oliveira (28-8 MMA, 16-8 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN+ 28 headliner in Brasilia.
In his last outing, Lee delivered a brutal head-kick knockout over prospect Gregor Gillespie, silencing both the New York crowd and the doubters.
It’s a feeling he hopes to recreate in enemy territory on March 14.
“I do like to play spoiler,” Lee told MMA Junkie. “I’m going to make sure I shut up all them Brazilians, and that arena gonna be real, real quiet at the end of the night, and sometimes that’s what I like to do. I like to steal a little bit of thunder. I feel like I shut down Madison Square Garden in my last fight. This one, I’m going to shut down this arena, too.”
The red-hot Oliveira is another risky fight for the former UFC interim lightweight title challenger, and a matchup that no top-ranked lightweight wanted to take.
But Lee is forging his own path.
“It’s the way that I’ve always had my career, to be honest,” Lee said. “Even in the last fight, having to fight Gregor over in New York. I’ve always had to take the longer route and put in twice as much work as the next guy in order to get to where I’m going, and that’s something that I’ve kind of accepted at this point.”
Stylistically, Oliveira poses a lot of threats. A prolific submission artist, the Brazilian has proven that he also has power in his hands.
So Lee definitely thinks Oliveira is a worthy opponent.
“It’s a good fight,” Lee said. “Especially with the way his last two fights have gone, he’s got like two really good knockout wins. He showed he can kinda do it all, so I feel like it’s definitely going to be one of the fights that elevates me. I don’t think he’s ready for this level yet. I don’t think he’s fought to this level yet, especially in a main event like this, so I feel like those are a couple of things that stack in my corner. But overall I think we match real good, and it’s going to be a good fight.”
