Coulda Been A Contender (Series)

Kevin Lee is serious about his UFC comeback.

So serious, in fact, that he is willing to reestablish himself on Dana White’s “Contender Series,” a program designed for up-and-coming talent looking to prove their mettle in front of the UFC CEO. Sometimes it goes well … sometimes it does not.

Doesn’t sound like Lee will get the opportunity to find out.

“My real love is MMA, I want to compete again,” Lee told Anik & Florian podcast. “And just to show how serious I am, I even told [matchmaker] Sean Shelby that I’m willing to go on Dana White’s ‘Contender Series’ to show how serious I am about competing at a high level. This next fight will be not about money or anything else, but to show that I can compete and my body can hold up against the tension I’m putting it under. He said no, but I was willing to do it. It’s $5,000 flat, that’s all you get. For $5,000 bucks, we’re losing money. But I’m still willing to do it.”

Maybe the APEX facility isn’t that bad after all.

The 32 year-old Lee first retired from competition back in summer 2023, insisting there was “more to life than just fighting.” A couple of months later, “Motown Phenom” announced his combat sports comeback after admitting he “missed being around the sport.”

Lee has not competed since a submission loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC Vegas 76.