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Kevin Lee thinks Ben Askren is ‘probably’ the easiest fight in the welterweight division.
Kevin Lee has said that he thinks Ben Askren is ‘probably’ the easiest fight at 170-pounds, and he would also be open to a rematch with Michael Chiesa.
Lee (17-5) is riding consecutive losses for the first time in his MMA career. A unanimous decision loss to Al Iaquinta in December of last year saw Lee move up to welterweight for the first time in his UFC career, however his debut at 170-pounds was dampened by submission loss to Rafael Dos Anjos.
Talking to Submission Radio, Lee explained why he thinks Askren, who recently lost to Jorge Masvidal by knockout in just five seconds, is the easiest fight at welterweight.
“Ben is probably the easiest out of anybody,” Lee said, “He’s just too hittable and too one-dimensional. He had that little back and forth with me at the press conference talking about he took me down when I was 19 years old as if that meant something to anybody. He didn’t talk about the right hand I kept hitting him with right before that but that’s water under the bridge.” (Transcription via MMA Fighting)
“Like you said, he’s a big draw but he took a big hit with that one and he didn’t show that he can compete with a lot of the top guys, when you talk about five seconds,” Lee said. “Five seconds! I’m gonna keep it real with you, there’s gotta be something in it for me. There’s no way that I can outdo a flying knee five-second KO. Every time I go into a fight, I want to do better than the guy who did last so I don’t know. There’s not a whole lot there for me.”
Another fight Lee discussed was a rematch with Michael Chiesa. The pair first met back in June 2017, when Lee defeated Chiesa by first-round submission. Since then Chiesa has moved up to welterweight and won two straight fights, a submission win over Carlos Condit and more recently a decision win over Diego Sanchez.
“That’s definitely something that’s still on the table,” Lee said. “If he feels like he wants to run it back, I definitely love free money so I’m not gonna turn it down. He’s a good competitor, I’ll give him that, [but] they’ve tossed him a couple softballs. I haven’t fought a Diego Sanchez in my career yet. I don’t get them kind of softballs. I’m taking on former world champions. We’ll see how that whole thing plays out. There could still be some smoke there, and if there’s smoke, there might be some fire.”