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Kevin Lee Plans on Utilizing a Nutritionist for his Next Fight After Missing Weight



Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight contender Kevin Lee missed weight for the first time in his six-year mixed martial arts career on the eve of his win over Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night 128 last weekend.

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“The Motown Phenom” officially weighed in at 157 pounds, which was one pound heavier than the lightweight limit allotted for non-title fights. Lee was not granted additional time to cut weight and due to the fact he missed weight he was fined 20 percent of his show purse as per the rules of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission -- the regulatory body which oversaw the event. The fight ultimately went ahead after Barboza agreed on a catchweight bout.

Lee dominated Barboza, using his wrestling and pressure to nullify the Brazilian’s striking game, came out victorious via fifth-round TKO due to doctor’s stoppage. He appeared on the recent episode of “The MMA Hour” and talked about missing weight and explained what went wrong.

“I think there could’ve been some adjustments that I could’ve made, especially on the timing,” Lee told host Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I think I just had the timing [off]. The timing was off a little bit too much, and my scale was a little bit different too. When I weighed myself on my scale upstairs, I was almost a pound-and-a-half heavier than what I thought. So it just was minor technical difficulties really when it came down to it. My body never reached a point where it was breaking down. It just became that I ran out of time.”

Lee has had issues in the past with cutting weight for a fight most notably at UFC 216 when the Nevada Athletic Commission allowed him an extra hour to make the weight limit ahead of his interim title fight against Tony Ferguson. Although the issue was exacerbated by the fact Lee was dealing with a staph infection during the cut.

This weekend however, there wasn’t a concern for Lee’s safety as it was more of a case he simply ran out of time.

“It wasn’t nowhere near the same level,” Lee said. “Especially, they were throwing boiling hot water on me for that Tony Ferguson weight cut, so it wasn’t nowhere near that level. I felt like I could’ve still pushed. I felt like still I could’ve went. The New Jersey Athletic Commission for whatever reason doesn’t allow that extra hour, which I wasn’t really clear on, and the hotel that we were staying at, they wouldn’t even let us in to use the sauna until like 5:45, something like that, when they promised that they’d let us in at 5:00.

“When you’re going to these new commissions, you don’t really know the rules until you get there. When I talk about a weight cut as big as mine, it takes weeks and weeks and weeks to plan. Even if they tell me the day of, it’s like, OK, well, I’ve been planning for six weeks, I’ve been cutting this weight to get down to a certain level, and I feel like I have it down to a very scientific spot, because I try to spend as little amount of time dehydrated.”

The fact Lee was not allowed additional time in Atlantic City to make the required weight highlighted the inconsistencies between the regulatory bodies in MMA. For example, fighters who were on the UFC on Fox 29 card the weekend before would have been given an additional two hours to make weight in accordance with Arizona’s state commission rules.

In light of missing weight, Lee is not risking the same situation happening in his next fight, as he plans on seeking help from a nutritionist. Lee’s next bout could potentially be an audition for the No. 1 contender spot and missing weight in that fight could hinder his progress towards the belt.

“Especially for the week of,” Lee said. “I’m definitely going to need one just to get that extra little stress and that extra little load off me, and not have me doing it. A lot of the notes that I look at and things are from old weight cuts, and I’m just getting bigger. So there’s definitely going to be some adjustments that could be made. But 155, I’m here to stay.”

While Lee understands these are the rules in place, one thing that frustrates him is the UFC’s unofficial rule of removing performance bonuses to fighters who missed weight. In this case, Lee feels Barboza missed out on a bonus through no fault of his own simply because he didn’t make weight.

“I just don’t see that system being OK,” Lee said. “The 20 percent [fine], that’s in my contract, I understand that. I kinda knew that going in. It’s not being eligible for the bonuses and all this — because it doesn’t take away from the performance, I feel like. Barboza put on a hell of a performance and I feel like you could’ve given the man some scratch for that.

“He went out there and he could’ve easily turned away during the first round even, gave up his neck and it would’ve been done, but Barboza stuck in there for five full rounds and took a beating on that. And he can’t get a ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus because of -- it’s not even a rule, it’s just like kinda in good faith or something, you know?”
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