American Kickboxing Academy head coach, Javier Mendez has claimed that “warning signs” should have been clear ahead of the return of former interim lightweight title challenger, Kevin Lee at UFC Vegas 76 last weekend – with the Missouri native suffering a brutal 55-second submission loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov.
Lee, a former interim lightweight title challenger, made his second UFC debut over the course of last weekend against Russian standout, Fakhretdinov, suffering a stunning 55-second technical submission loss to the latter – suffering a guillotine choke submission defeat.
Dropping his third consecutive loss under the banner of the promotion, Kevin Lee had previously dropped a unanimous decision defeat to Daniel Rodriguez – which came off the back of a guillotine choke loss to former undisputed lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira in 2020 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Kevin Lee urged to focus more following his submission loss in his UFC return
And ahead of his return to the Octagon – Lee, who voiced his displeasure with fighting at the UFC Apex facility, as well as claiming there were many “holes” he had noticed in the game of former undisputed champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, was criticized for a lack of focus by AKA maestro, Mendez.
“For me, some of the warning signs for me where Kevin (Lee) was talking about, ‘I’m beyond these little shows at the APEX’, his attitude, to me it’s like your focus should’ve been on winning over your opponent,” Javier Mendez said on his podcast. “Other comments were about Khabib (Nurmagomedov), ‘I saw holes in his game.’”
“You should’ve been more focused on your fight and forget anybody else, forget anybody in particular, just focus on yours because everybody was dying to see what you could do,” Mandez said of Kevin Lee. “It should have never came up – solely focus on the job at hand. A lot of fighters need to focus on the person they’re fighting, especially when you know you have a really tough opponent.” (H/T MMA Mania)
Reacting to Lee’s stunning submission loss, fans poked fun at the Detroit native, with social media users claiming he should have pursued a path on the TikTok platform – akin to his sibling, Keith Lee.