Late last week, Kevin Lee announced his intention to return to the lightweight division after a brief stint at welterweight. He stated that he hopes to work his way toward a title fight with lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, and that he’s interested in battling Nurmagomedov’s training partner Islam Makhachev in the meantime.

“After looking at that last fight with Khabib, I did an interview before Khabib fought Dustin (Poirier) and said I wasn’t too impressed,” Lee told ESPN (via MMA Mania). “But after seeing the way Khabib handled Dustin, I might want a piece of that cake. I like the biggest target I can find. He’s the real challenge out there. He’s the guy who is going to challenge Jon Jones for the pound-for-pound title. That’s the kind of fight that will get me up.

“I hear they’re going to Moscow and I hear Islam [Makhachev] might want a fight,” Lee said. “Me and Islam on a co-main in Moscow sounds good to me. People see him as the next Khabib. I’ll be training with Georges [St-Pierre]. There’s talks of trying to make Khabib and Georges happen. There are a lot of little storylines there. Lot of motivation in a fight like that.”

It did not take long for Islam Makhachev to respond to this comment from Kevin Lee. Makhachev claims that, after calling Lee out for years to no avail, he plans on making his rival wait for this fight.

@MoTownPhenom you ain’t in position to call date and location. I was calling you out 2years in a row. Now you wait till January and I’ll give you a lesson boy

— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) September 14, 2019

“[Kevin Lee] you ain’t in position to call date and location,” Makhachev wrote on Twitter. “I was calling you out 2 years in a row. Now you wait till January and I’ll give you a lesson boy.”

Does a fight between Kevin Lee and Islam Makhachev interest you? Who do you think wins?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/17/2019.