Kevin Lee explains why Max Holloway doesn't belong in the lightweight division

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 231, UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway returned to the Octagon in dominant form, defeating formerly undefeated challenger Brian Ortega by doctor stoppage.

In the wake of this dominant performance, fans and pundits have once again started calling for Holloway to move up to the lightweight division, where the weight cut would be less intense, and new challenges would await.

In the opinion of UFC Milwaukee headliner Kevin Lee, however, Max Holloway doesn’t belong in the lightweight division.

“I feel like in time maybe people will stop doing that,” Kevin Lee said on The MMA Hour (transcript via MMA Mania). “We are talking about something bigger than that. I feel like people are too short-sighted. You win one fight and all of a sudden you are the GOAT.”

“And this is no disrespect to Max at all. Max is one of the very few fighters in the game that I got a lot of respect for and actually consider a good friend,” Lee continued. “He looked amazing, really. We are all kind of the same generation. I feel like me and him both are in the new generation of fighter. He set the bar last week and it has given me a bit more motivation, a bit more fuel to go out there and put a show on.”

Image: Kevin Lee on Instagram

“But, I feel like that’s not the way you get it done. That’s not the way you become a superstar by automatically let’s just bump up. You see the same thing with Khabib. I told this to Ali, you win one fight and all of a sudden you want to fight Floyd Mayweather for $100 million. Come on, this is not how this game works. It’s a marathon. Keep putting in the work, keep taking out No. 1 contenders and then maybe you will get there eventually. You talk about guys like Georges St-Pierre who had to defend the title nine or ten times before they started saying that. I feel that is the way the sport should really be. Let’s get back to the real sport, let’s get back to, we’ve already seen it.”

“Why do you want Khabib to fight Floyd? It’s not even a great fight. Why do you want Max to come up and fight somebody like Khabib or like me? It’s unfair for him to even have to, that’s a lot of weight. People do not understand, we are competitors. We are just too big and too strong. It’s too big of a disadvantage. I feel like it needs to be a clear playing field, and then that’s when you really see the best fight.”

How do you think Max Holloway would perform in the dangerous UFC lightweight division? Is Kevin Lee right?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 12/13/2018.

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Kevin Lee explains why Max Holloway doesn’t belong in the lightweight division

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