News Fighter Kevin Lee is back!!

[Shaolin Alan]

Kevin Lee proving that he is serious about working his way back to the UFC by taking a fight on the regional scene vs Thiago Oliveira, where he emerged victorious, defeating his opponent by RNC @ 1:58 of the opening round. He is rumored to have a follow up bout signed with Gamebred FC (Bareknuckle MMA) on 15 Nov 2024. Let's show him our support by leaving a like, laugh or heart on this thread

 

[Reach4theSky]

 

[Red Lantern]

There are many Kevin Lee, but Fighter Kevin Lee will always be my favorite Kevin Lee.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

He really had a ton of athletic potential, but was kind of a head-case that the UFC churned and burned before he could be properly developed (and his knees repeatedly exploding of course).

 

[BigTruck]

Did you just beg for reaction scores? You a YouTuber wannabe or something?

 

[BigTruck]

He really had a ton of athletic potential, but was kind of a head-case that the UFC churned and burned before he could be properly developed (and his knees repeatedly exploding of course).

There's also the fact he really wasn't ever that good but you all bought his self hype.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

He really had a ton of athletic potential, but was kind of a head-case that the UFC churned and burned before he could be properly developed (and his knees repeatedly exploding of course).

He was athletic in some way but not in the way that is worthy for MMA. His cardio sucks and his striking wasn't fluid enough.
He also fought a jobber last weekend and is fighting an absolute can on Gamebreed promotion.


Don't get me wrong.. I'm all for FKL making a run but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Thesnake101]

He really had a ton of athletic potential, but was kind of a head-case that the UFC churned and burned before he could be properly developed (and his knees repeatedly exploding of course).

I mean, they gave him a rematch with Al in the hopes of building him up further for another title run. That was the best developmental fight he could've gotten as a contender, the fact he flubbed it and then fucked around with his weight are not the fault of the UFC.

Kevin was just a very flawed fighter at the end of the day.

 

[ArtardFiesta]

the lw kevin randleman

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

There's also the fact he really wasn't ever that good but you all bought his self hype.

I never said he was some super-elite killer that show-cased insane skills, I only said he had a ton of athletic potential (which is literally indisputable)

All things considered he put together a pretty nice 5-fight win streak with finishing Chisea/Trinaldo/Magomedov/Matthews in a row when he was like 23-24, and was even able to put it on Tony Ferguson in his prime in an interim title fight until he gassed (partially from his approach+style+build/partially from Staph).

Then he also beat the piss out of Barboza right after that (still in his late prime) before he failed to develop and his body started to fall to pieces. But except for the Iaquinta loss I felt he was pretty respectable in losing to legends like RDA/Oliviera where he at least showed flashes of brilliance in spots.

But please show me where I bought into his hype....

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

He was athletic in some way but not in the way that is worthy for MMA. His cardio sucks and his striking wasn't fluid enough.
He also fought a jobber last weekend and is fighting an absolute can on Gamebreed promotion.


Don't get me wrong.. I'm all for FKL making a run but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm not talking about where he is right now, I'm talking about where he was on the come-up.

As a young 20-something he had a very respectable run and looked like an absolute beast with his wrestling early in fights and could really give guys problems that couldn't handle the pressure. That doesn't mean he wasn't flawed as a fighter, he never really developed anything outside of a pressure-wrestling game and was over-reliant on being a better athlete and overwhelming guys that couldn't match his speed/strength early in fights.

His cardio was mid, it was more of how he fought that was the problem (everything 100% and usually trying to push a pace, so if he didn't break guys he could break himself).

No one is holding their breath for FKL to make a run except FKL and his family, I'm just offering a fair reflection of his career potential and what he did show us before his knees went to shit and he became a head case.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

I mean, they gave him a rematch with Al in the hopes of building him up further for another title run. That was the best developmental fight he could've gotten as a contender, the fact he flubbed it and then fucked around with his weight are not the fault of the UFC.

Kevin was just a very flawed fighter at the end of the day.

I agree entirely that he was a very flawed fighter, over-reliant on being a better athlete so he never really developed technical parts of the game that are necessary at the highest level and with his style needed to learn how to be more patient and learn how to blitz guys like prime Woodley, but instead would push a pace to the point where he'd break himself if he wasn't successful.

You guys forget he was like 25 when he fought for the Interim title at LW - right now in the top 10 at LW there is only 1 guy under the age of 35 (Arman). So there was obviously tons of time left for him to develop as a fighter, but because of a myriad of circumstances (some of his own making, some circumstantial) he was a failed project ultimately, but at least he showed us some dope stuff in his run to the interim title, gave T-Ferg a scare, put a beating on Barboza, and even in losing to Oliviera showed heart and grit to survive some insanely disgusting grappling sequences.

The revisionist history among hardcores to absolutely rake older/declining fighters over the coals and act like they were never any good/showed any potential boggles my fucking mind every day on these forums. Not saying you specifically, but the general consensus whenever a fighter starts to decline seems to be "they were never really good/they got lucky/favorable match-making/etc."

Why can't we just give a reasonable analysis of what someone showed us and admit that at their best they were good but not great, yet still showed flashes of brilliance and put on some great fights for us?

 

[TempleoftheDog]

The GOAT Kevin Lee.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

I'm not talking about where he is right now, I'm talking about where hew as on the come-up.

As a young 20-something he had a very respectable run and looked like an absolute beast with his wrestling early in fights and could really give guys problems that couldn't handle the pressure. That doesn't mean he wasn't flawed as a fighter, he never really developed anything outside of a pressure-wrestling game and was over-reliant on being a better athlete and overwhelming guys that couldn't match his speed/strength early in fights.

His cardio was mid, it was more of how he fought that was the problem (everything 100% and usually trying to push a pace, so if he didn't break guys he could break himself).

No one is holding their breath for FKL to make a run except FKL and his family, I'm just offering a fair reflection of his career potential and what he did show us before his knees went to shit and he became a head case.

I agree he looked outstanding and was on his hypetrain.

I don't agree 100% with the cardio stuff. He was great when he went 100% overwhelming lesser fighters.. that is his only way to fight. When he conserves energy he is just not good enough.. not fast enough not fluid enough not nothing. His strength is his weakness.. he is and will ever be a frontrunner.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

right now in the top 10 at LW there is only 1 guy under the age of 35 (Arman).

Really?

Out of the official rankings Hooker is 34, Oliveira is 34... Fiziev is 31.. Max is 32.. Arman 27... you mean under 30?

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

I agree he looked outstanding and was on his hypetrain.

I don't agree 100% with the cardio stuff. He was great when he went 100% overwhelming lesser fighters.. that is his only way to fight. When he conserves energy he is just not good enough.. not fast enough not fluid enough not nothing. His strength is his weakness.. he is and will ever be a frontrunner.

Agreed that at his best was when he had a speed/athleticism advantage and could intimidate opposition early with it. Maybe psychologically that turned him into a front-runner in the process and he believed he could do it to everyone regardless of their level.

I feel he never learned how to fight any other way (pressure-wrestler), when he did it seemed almost accidental (i.e. when he KO'd GGG with the head-kick being patient and working his jab to set-up the head-kick).

That's what I mean by he never truly developed as a fighter to be elite, the best guys learn that you can't just overwhelm other elite opponents immediately and figure out ways to pick their spots/probe for weaknesses/make reads to get set-ups/etc. He's actually like a smaller Woodley in some ways (with less power and better grappling), but unlike Woodley he never learned how to fight in different modalities and conserve energy in spots.

He put a beating with non-stop output on Barboza over 5 rounds, got subbed in the 4th by RDA after getting his wrestling shut-down non-stop (where most fighters would've gassed far earlier with that approach), and got an a literally insane non-stop grapple/scramble fest with Oliviera for the better part of 3 rounds, so it's not like he's some one-round fighter that just goes nuts and shuts-down/implodes immediately thereafter.

 

[Portland8242]

He put a beating with non-stop output on Barboza over 5 rounds

That was truly vicious GnP he put on Barboza in that fight.

It's not like FKL's hype was without warrant.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Really?

Out of the official rankings Hooker is 34, Oliveira is 34... Fiziev is 31.. Max is 32.. Arman 27... you mean under 30?

My bad I meant 30.

Still, the guys under 35 = Hooker/Oliviera are on the edge of 35, Max is ancient in fight years (pro at 17), Fiziev just over 30 but also coming off a bad knee injury.

Is it that insane to think a super-athletic 25-year old that fought for an interim title had the potential to get better?

 

[HHJ]

I agree entirely that he was a very flawed fighter, over-reliant on being a better athlete so he never really developed technical parts of the game that are necessary at the highest level and with his style needed to learn how to be more patient and learn how to blitz guys like prime Woodley, but instead would push a pace to the point where he'd break himself if he wasn't successful.

You guys forget he was like 25 when he fought for the Interim title at LW - right now in the top 10 at LW there is only 1 guy under the age of 35 (Arman). So there was obviously tons of time left for him to develop as a fighter, but because of a myriad of circumstances (some of his own making, some circumstantial) he was a failed project ultimately, but at least he showed us some dope stuff in his run to the interim title, gave T-Ferg a scare, put a beating on Barboza, and even in losing to Oliviera showed heart and grit to survive some insanely disgusting grappling sequences.

The revisionist history among hardcores to absolutely rake older/declining fighters over the coals and act like they were never any good/showed any potential boggles my fucking mind every day on these forums. Not saying you specifically, but the general consensus whenever a fighter starts to decline seems to be "they were never really good/they got lucky/favorable match-making/etc."

Why can't we just give a reasonable analysis of what someone showed us and admit that at their best they were good but not great, yet still showed flashes of brilliance and put on some great fights for us?

 

[BigTruck]

I never said he was some super-elite killer that show-cased insane skills, I only said he had a ton of athletic potential (which is literally indisputable)

All things considered he put together a pretty nice 5-fight win streak with finishing Chisea/Trinaldo/Magomedov/Matthews in a row when he was like 23-24, and was even able to put it on Tony Ferguson in his prime in an interim title fight until he gassed (partially from his approach+style+build/partially from Staph).

Then he also beat the piss out of Barboza right after that (still in his late prime) before he failed to develop and his body started to fall to pieces. But except for the Iaquinta loss I felt he was pretty respectable in losing to legends like RDA/Oliviera where he at least showed flashes of brilliance in spots.

But please show me where I bought into his hype....

Maybe at the time trinaldo was regarded higher but Mathews and magomedov are not very good and effrain? C'mon, Mike I don't thinks great either but he's the best out of those 5, I'll give you barboza though I thought he was going to fuck up Lee.

I guess it's really the "athletic ability" everyone always points out, I think that shit is way over valued in mma as that gets said a lot but fighters who didn't turn out to be anything special.

His ko of Gregor was awesome but I didn't buy that Weinerbutts hype either.