Former interim lightweight title challenger, Kevin Lee has already laid out a host of names to welcome him back to the Octagon after confirming the snapping of his retirement from active competition – with the ex-UFC championship chaser suggesting a rematch fight with former rival, Tony Ferguson.
Lee, a former interim lightweight title challenger – who featured against Ferguson in a triangle choke submission loss back in 2017 in the pair’s championship battle, confirmed his plans to finish his fighting career back in the summer of last year.
However, less than a year later, the Michigan native confirmed this week how a conversation with his mother sparked his decision to make a retirement u-turn – and chase a comeback fight under the UFC banner once more.
Making his return at a UFC Vegas 76 card back in July of last year, Lee, who has dealt with a slew of recurring knee injuries in the latter tenure of his career, suffered a catastrophic guillotine choke submission loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov in just 55 seconds.
Kevin Lee welcomes Tony Ferguson rematch in UFC return
And off the back of his announcement of a comeback to active competition earlier this week, Lee suggested future fights in his return against the likes of the above-mentioned, Ferguson, lightweight staple, Michael Chandler, or even former two-division champion, Conor McGregor.
“There’s a couple great fights [for a comeback],” Kevin Lee told Middleeasy during a recent interview. “Tony Ferguson, maybe the winner or loser of Conor (McGregor) or (Michael) Chandler.”
“I’m honestly not focused too much on opponents right now,” Kevin Lee continued. “I think I have a long road ahead of me as far as getting healthy [goes]. Two getting into shape, and three, singing a contract. Then maybe we can look at location, and then talk about opponents. So, it’s far down the road for me to be thinking about opponents.”
Over the course of his stint in the Octagon collectively, Lee has turned in notable wins over the likes of Efrain Escudero, Jake Matthews, Michael Chiesa, Edson Barboza, and most recently, a hellacious high-kick KO win over then-surging wrestling ace, Gregor Gillespie.
Would you like to see Kevin Lee fight Tony Ferguson in his return to the UFC?