Kevin Lee was once a lauded prospect in the most competitive division in UFC. But Lee has fallen quite a bit since and even got released by the promotion after suffering a debilitating knee injury.
UFC veteran, Kevin Lee eventually left the company in 2021.
Kevin Lee soon signed with Eagle FC, the organization that is run by former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. In his first match, Lee defeated another UFC veteran, Diego Sanchez.
Since that time, not much has been said about Lee or Eagle FC.
In an exclusive interview for the Middle Easy, James Lynch talked with Lee about his contract with Eagle FC and what his future could hold outside of the club.
“It was an exclusive agreement, but it’s getting to the point where I might step outside of it. I don’t know. Honestly, that’s not really for me to answer.”
“That’s gonna be more on my management to answer and I’m going through a change of management right now too so that’s going to be more questions down the line.”
Lee criticized Eagle FC owner Khabib Nurmagomedov in a since-deleted tweet. He also asked the UFC Hall of Famer whether he would feel “more comfortable talking publicly?”
The tweet quickly aroused the interest of followers. James Lynch enquired about the tweet, and Lee responded.
He said,
“Me and Khabib need to talk. Me and Khabib need to talk. We need to have a conversation. We need to really sit down as men and talk. I do feel like he still… He maybe holds a grudge or he’s got something going on against me.”
“I think he’s coming off the big win with Islam. That was a huge win and I’m never one to make anything about me so I’m giving them the time and space they need to celebrate it, go on to the next one.”
“They got a big fight coming up to see if he’s going to be pound-for-pound number one. All that good sh*t so I’m not not a team player, you know what I’m saying? So, yeah. We’ll need to have a talk, but it’ll come in due time.”
Although Khabib’s Eagle FC promotion received a lot of attention, the organization hasn’t held a single event there since May of this year. The heavyweight main event of the show pitted Junior dos Santo against Yorgan De Castro.
Another interesting point, is Kevin Lee’s change of manager. Lee famously shared a manager with Francis Ngannou in CAA’s Marquel Martin (Martin has since left CAA which is the chief competitor to UFC’s owner Endeavor).
Many speculated that the issues UFC had with Ngannou went so far as to impact Lee who was cut after suffering consecutive ACL tears – first one knee than in the other in 2020.