Kevin
Lee believes a political speech he gave in 2019 changed his MMA
career.
Lee delivered a speech campaigning for presidential candidate
Bernie Sanders, who is a longtime political rival of President
Donald Trump. Lee was coming off a bonus-winning stoppage over
Gregor
Gillespie when Sanders’ team contacted him. Lee had no monetary
incentive to campaign for Sanders, who he thought would win the
election in 2020.
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“My career really started going south after that Gregor fight,” Lee
recently told Eric Cerminara. “Because I decided to get political,
shoutout to Bernie Sanders. And then I went and I spoke for Bernie
Sanders at this convention or something. His people reached out to
me, they were like, ‘Hey, you want to do a little speech?’ I was
like, ‘Sure.’ No money, I just did it – felt like it was cool, I
thought he would be president.”
Lee believes his relationship with the UFC was ruined due to his
speech supporting Sanders. Lee was then booked to headline a UFC
Fight Night against Charles
Oliveira in Brasilia, Brazil, right as the COVID-19 pandemic
started. Lee claims he was made to fly to Brazil for one day to
fulfill media obligations just two weeks before the fight. “Motown
Phenom” claims he wasn’t given food, and there was no one to braid
his hair. Considering the UFC’s growing alliance with Trump, Lee
knows that he made a mistake by supporting Sanders. Lee claims he
even ignored Trump, who wanted to meet him backstage after a
fight.
Turning Point
“From there I felt our relationship turned,” Lee said. “Stopped
getting the same calls, started getting the wrong calls. F—-ing
fighting Charles, started the pandemic in Brazil. Two weeks before
that fight, they flew me down there for one day, a media day. Spent
more time in the air than I did on the ground. Two weeks before the
fight, sounds like an excuse. F—ing terrible, they didn’t give me
no food, they didn’t even have somebody to braid my hair. The whole
relationship changed after doing that Bernie Sanders thing. Seeing
how much they’re in with Trump now, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, alright, I
f—ed up.’ After that fight, Trump wanted to meet me backstage and I
f—-ing walked out. Which is crazy, because I voted for Trump the
second time.”
Lee (20-9) missed weight by 2.5 pounds for the fight against
Oliveira and lost via submission. The former interim lightweight
challenger just fought once more in the UFC before being released
by the promotion. After a fight on the regional circuit, Lee
returned to the UFC for a one-off outing, where he suffered another
submission loss against Rinat Fakkretdinov. While Lee announced his
retirement from MMA in 2023, he returned to competition in 2024,
picking up a win on the regional circuit before suffering a loss
against Gadzhi
Rabadanov at PFL.