Kevin Lee only needed to be a couple days removed from his loss to Al Iaquinta to regain his trademark confidence.
“The Motown Phenom” entered the UFC on Fox 31 headliner having won 10 of his last 12 Octagon appearances. Following a dominant stoppage of Edson Barboza in April, Lee was viewed by many as a serious threat to reigning lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, Lee’s momentum was derailed in his rematch with Iaquinta, as he lost a five-round decision to Iaquinta in a fight that was still up for grabs heading into the final stanza.
However, while Lee acknowledged Iaquinta’s performance in victory, he continues to maintain that he believes he did enough to win the fight.
“The fight on Saturday, I still feel like we won it,” Lee said in a video posted on his Instagram account. “I fought a lot off my back foot as a southpaw and against my natural fighting style. My explosiveness and coming forward and being aggressive. I tried to show something a little too different. Al showed up, he put on a great performance, landed a great shot in the fourth round.
“All I can say is: I’m going to be back, I’m still going to be a champ regardless of where it’s at and what it is.”
In a post-fight scrum with media on Saturday night in Milwaukee, Lee admitted that he was considering a move to 170 pounds in the future. Whether Lee remains at lightweight or moves up a division, it doesn’t sound as though he’ll be adopting a more humble approach for his next bout.
“I beat racism, the system, poverty, and everybody that wanna see me lose for no reason,” Lee wrote in another Instagram post. “F—k being humble.”