Report: Kevin Lee injured, off UFC 264

Kevin Lee reacts to his loss to Charles Oliveira. | Photo by Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC

Rising MMA prospect Sean Brady recently took to social media to announce that his opponent, Kevin Lee, had suffered and injury and their …


Kevin Lee reacts to his loss to Charles Oliveira.
Kevin Lee reacts to his loss to Charles Oliveira. | Photo by Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC

Rising MMA prospect Sean Brady recently took to social media to announce that his opponent, Kevin Lee, had suffered and injury and their upcoming bout would be delayed.

It looks like the UFC’s upcoming big UFC 264 PPV event just lost one of its more interesting undercard bouts. That news comes from the Instagram account of top welterweight prospect Sean Brady. Brady took to social media on Thursday, June 24th, to announce that he would no longer be fighting on the Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3 fight card, after opponent Kevin Lee withdrew from their bout due to injury.

“Unfortunately, I will not be fighting Kevin Lee July 10th from my understanding he has suffered an injury and had to pull out of the fight,” Brady wrote, adding that his team is “hoping to rebook the fight for August.”

Lee, who spoke last year about lacking motivation and taking time off from his MMA career, told MMA Junkie back in February that he had recaptured his passion for the sport after sitting on the sidelines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Lee has not competed since suffering a 3rd round submission loss to current lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in March of 2020—the promotion’s last show before a brief, forced hiatus.

That defeat came just a few months after Lee’s first round KO victory over Gregor Gillespie at UFC 244. The ‘Motown Phenom’ is 2-4 in the UFC since late 2017 where he had a five fight unbeaten streak broken by a submission loss to Tony Ferguson in a battle for the Interim lightweight title.

For Brady, Lee represented the Renzo Gracie Philly fighter’s next big step forward in competition. The unbeaten 28-year-old entered the Octagon with a perfect 10-0 record before rattling off victories over Court McGee, Ismail Naurdiev, Christian Aguilera, and Jake Matthews.

Hopefully, Lee heals up quickly and the two men can meet later this summer in what will be Lee’s second try at a move to the welterweight division, having lost his lone UFC bout at 170 lbs to Rafael dos Anjos back in May of 2019.

UFC 264 takes place Saturday, July 10th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The bout is expected to be headlined by a lightweight rematch between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. A welterweight fight between former title contenders Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson is planned for the co-main event.