Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight contender, Kevin Lee, was expecting to fight former 155-pound champion, Anthony Pettis, in the UFC Milwaukee main event later this year on FOX Sports 1.
I guess interim lightweight titleholder, Tony Ferguson, got wind of the potential pairing and decided to rush his recovery, if for no other reason than to stop the shine of “Motown Phenom” and cement his place as the next in line for the winner of this fight.
That’s according to Lee.
“The last I heard was me and Pettis being made,” Lee told Submission Radio. “That was the last that Pettis heard too, I’m hearing. And Pettis walked in and he walked in with the intention of negotiating that fight towards me and they hit him with Tony out of nowhere. They were looking for a fight for Tony and he stole my fight from me. I think when I talked to [UFC] first they were of the mind that he wasn’t gonna be ready, just like everybody else, but I guess he’s gonna go ahead and rush his recovery in order to stop my shine.”
I think that shine was already stopped in the UFC 216 main event.
Ferguson spent the last several months on the sidelines rehabbing an injured leg, one that booted him from the UFC 223 headliner back in April. That cost him a chance to compete for the 155-pound strap but it’s not unreasonable to think a finish over “Showtime” would earn him another trip the big dance.
Unless Lee, who smashed Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night 128 last spring, can reignite his shine between now and then, though that would require a “Highlight” -reel win over someone highly regarded.
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