There are a few losses Kevin Lee would like to get back, but Tony Ferguson is not one of them.
Lee (18-6 MMA, 11-6 UFC) was submitted by Ferguson in their UFC interim lightweight title bout in 2017, where he had Ferguson in some compromising positions before getting tapped out by a triangle choke in the third round of the UFC 216 headliner. The loss was a tough pill to swallow at the time for Lee, who saw a five-fight winning streak snapped and come up short in his bid for gold.
But with Ferguson’s current carer status, Lee doesn’t think the fight would be competitive. After a remarkable 12-fight unbeaten run, which included the submission of Lee, Ferguson (25-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) has suffered three straight lopsided losses, and Lee doubts the 37-year-old would put up much of a fight if they were to rematch.
“That was a fight that I was interested in up until I saw him just get dismantled by Charles Oliveira, especially on the ground,” Lee said in an interview with James Lynch. “That one would kind of hurt my heart a little bit because I would beat him so bad that it would of take away from our first fight. That’s one – I would do it. Of course I would do it. Easy money is easy money at this point, but I think he’s too far gone, and I think he’s too far over the hill. I don’t like beating up on people that don’t put up a good fight.”
Lee has never shied away from a tough fight. After missing weight in a submission loss to current UFC lightweight champ Charles Oliveira, Lee is seeking new life by moving up to 170 pounds when he takes on surging contender Daniel Rodriguez (15-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 30 on Saturday.