{"id":307206,"date":"2019-03-25T22:45:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T05:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=307206"},"modified":"2019-03-25T22:45:42","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T05:45:42","slug":"kevin-lee-says-politics-at-lightweight-helped-move-to-welterweight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/kevin-lee\/kevin-lee-says-politics-at-lightweight-helped-move-to-welterweight\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Lee says politics at lightweight helped move to welterweight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kevin Lee is moving up to welterweight to take on Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC Rochester<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many believe Lee is moving up to welterweight because of his size. However, according to \u201cThe Motown Phenom\u201d that is not the case. Rather, Lee decided to move up in weight given the state of the lightweight division and how the top contenders are not fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of [the lightweight division] kinda went stagnant, which is a real shame,\u201d Lee said on The MMA Hour<\/em><\/a>. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s always been one of the best divisions in the UFC. There\u2019s just so many ups and so many questions. And part of me was like, this is where I said I wanted to be, and this is where I started and where I\u2019m gonna finish, especially with fighting Khabib. But when I looked at it, like, okay, I\u2019m not going to sit around and wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too many politics going on. Like you said, Max is now fighting Dustin<\/a>, Tony\u2019s sitting out \u2014 which, I\u2019m sad about that whole situation \u2014 and all these other things, and nobody wants to fight, and guys only want these certain fights just to push them up, and Conor\u2019s kinda calling the shots still. And I\u2019m like, you know what, f*ck all of this. I\u2019m mostly worried about me anyway. To me, I\u2019m the top dog. So it\u2019s what\u2019s best for my career and going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose fights are still going to be out there,\u201d continued Lee. \u201cI still am 100 percent confident I can make 155 again, but we\u2019ll see after. I prefer this fight at 170; 155, they need to get their shit together. That\u2019s all. I think it\u2019ll come together towards the end of this year, but I wasn\u2019t about to sit around and wait for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, Lee says the move to welterweight is not permanent and would return to lightweight once division starts to move forward. For now, Lee is focusing on ‘RDA’ and looking to get a win in his welterweight debut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article first appeared on <\/em>BJPENN.COM<\/em><\/a> on 3\/25\/2019. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kevin Lee is moving up to welterweight to take on Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC Rochester. Many believe Lee is moving up to welterweight because of his size. However, according to \u201cThe Motown Phenom\u201d that is not the case. Rather, Lee decided to move up in weight given the state of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54463,"featured_media":288640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[19995,10109,39610,43349],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nKevin Lee says politics at lightweight helped move to welterweight | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rather, Kevin Lee decided to move up in weight given the state of the lightweight division and how the top contenders are not fighting for titles.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/kevin-lee\/kevin-lee-says-politics-at-lightweight-helped-move-to-welterweight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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