When it comes to his unanimous decision win over Shawn Bunch at Bellator 239 last February, bantamweight Keith Lee feels the performance pretty much encapsulates everything he’s about as a fighter.
For Lee, as long as he doesn’t hamstring himself and instead has the kind of performance he’s trained to have, he’ll be able to pick up the win against anyone at any time, just as he did against Bunch.
“I feel that was a performance that I showed up as myself,” Lee told MMAWeekly.com. “I’m one of those guys where I’m always looking at it like it’s me versus myself, and as long as I show up I feel like I can dominate most guys in my division, if not everybody in the division.
“I feel like it was one of those performances I showed up and I was myself and I gave a complete performance.”
As great as his fight with Bunch went, Lee’s world quickly became chaotic due to the novel coronavirus. Thankfully he was able to keep things together and feels he came out of the lockdown in a more advantageous position than others.
“It was crazy,” said Lee. “Two weeks after my fight, my brother fought in Brazil, and we almost got trapped in Brazil, and my wife was four months pregnant at the time, so I had to rush back home. It was insane.
“When I came back I quarantined for maybe three weeks straight, then started running again, started training with my coach and moving around. Things we different, but I think we got back on the ball a lot faster than most states (in Nevada). It was a crazy time for everybody but I feel I adapted well.”
On Friday in Uncasville, Connecticut, Lee (6-3) will look to pick up his fourth win a row when he faces Vinicius Zani (11-6) in a preliminary 140-pound bout at Bellator 245.
TRENDING > Matt Schnell UFC Vegas 10 bout canceled after he collapsed while weight cutting
“I don’t look at him at all,” Lee said of Zani. “I don’t even pay attention that he’s there. When I look across cage it’s me. I see a reflection of myself. I never really pay attention to the guy across from me. It’s all about how I show up, and I think that once I’m on my game nobody can mess with me.
“I don’t see him being any different. He’s a game opponent. He’s scrappy. I’ve never fought a guy who I felt was under me or had a bad record or anything like that. I’ve never fought a guy that was lower in competition, so I always come in my A-game and always coming in thinking I’m facing the best guys in the world.”
For Lee the remainder of 2020 he plans on focusing on his personal life first, then all things willing he’ll start to figure out what his next step in his career will be.
“My wife is due the week after my fight, so that’s my main focus now,” said Lee. “Once we get this fight over with, and I go out there and perform, I plan on having a healthy baby, and then I’ll go from there and see where everything lines up.”
Keith Lee bringing his A-game to Bellator 245
