{"id":325264,"date":"2019-09-13T08:22:18","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T15:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=325264"},"modified":"2019-09-13T08:22:18","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T15:22:18","slug":"kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Lee returning to lightweight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year, Kevin Lee announced his intention to move from the lightweight division to the welterweight division. His time in this heavier division did not last long.<\/p>\n<p>After tapping to a Rafael dos Anjos choke in his welterweight debut at UFC Rochester in May, Lee is now headed back down to lightweight.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, it sounds like Lee&#8217;s decision to return to lightweight has more to do with a desire to fight the division&#8217;s champ Khabib Nurmagomedov than a disinterest in the welterweight division.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kevin Lee might want a crack at Khabib after moving back to lightweight | ESPN MMA\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/72lDBUNC8OU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p id=\"Sy5lL7\">\u201cAfter looking at that last fight with Khabib, I did an interview before Khabib fought Dustin (Poirier) and said I wasn\u2019t too impressed,\u201d Lee told\u00a0ESPN (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2019\/9\/13\/20864220\/kevin-lee-dropping-back-down-lightweight-hopes-fight-khabib-nurmagomedov-mma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MMA Mania<\/a>). \u201cBut after seeing the way Khabib handled Dustin, I might want a piece of that cake. I like the biggest target I can find. He\u2019s the real challenge out there. He\u2019s the guy who is going to challenge Jon Jones for the pound-for-pound title. That\u2019s the kind of fight that will get me up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Kevin Lee hopes to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov in the future, he understands he needs to get back on track with a win first. Conveniently, he actually has an idea for his next fight. He&#8217;s hoping to fight Nurmagomedov&#8217;s friend and training partner Islam Makhachev in Moscow.<\/p>\n<p id=\"6AoJea\">\u201cI hear they\u2019re going to Moscow and I hear Islam [Makhachev] might want a fight,\u201d Lee said. \u201cMe and Islam on a co-main in Moscow sounds good to me. People see him as the next Khabib. I\u2019ll be training with Georges [St-Pierre]. There\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Does a lightweight fight between Kevin Lee and Islam Makhachev interest you?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 9\/13\/2019. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this year, Kevin Lee announced his intention to move from the lightweight division to the welterweight division. His time in this heavier division did not last long. After tapping to a Rafael dos Anjos choke in his welterweight debut at UFC Rochester in May, Lee is now headed back down to lightweight. Interestingly, it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":313778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[19995,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kevin Lee returning to lightweight | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a brief stint at welterweight, &quot;The Motown Phenom&quot; Kevin Lee is headed back down to the lightweight division. And he knows who he wants to fight.\" \/>\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\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kevin Lee returning to lightweight | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After a brief stint at welterweight, &quot;The Motown Phenom&quot; Kevin Lee is headed back down to the lightweight division. And he knows who he wants to fight.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-13T15:22:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kevin-Lee-9.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Kevin Lee returning to lightweight\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-13T15:22:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-13T15:22:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Kevin Lee\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kevin-lee-returning-to-lightweight\/\",\"name\":\"Kevin Lee returning to lightweight | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-13T15:22:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-13T15:22:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"After a brief stint at welterweight, \\\"The Motown Phenom\\\" Kevin Lee is headed back down to the lightweight division. 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