Kevin Lee Uninterested In Rematch Against Tony Ferguson: 'I Would Beat Him So Bad'

Mandatory Credit: Brandon Magnus - Zuffa LLC

Former interim UFC lightweight title challenger, Kevin Lee has claimed that he would beat former interim champion, Tony Ferguson "so bad" if the pair ever shared the Octagon again -- suggesting that the faltering Ferguson is "too far over the hill" amid a three-fight losing spree for the Oxnard native. 

Lee, who returns this weekend at UFC Vegas 35 -- features in a short-notice main card outing against Californian kickboxer, Daniel Rodriguez, makes his first outing since a UFC Fight Night Brasilia main event tilt against now-undisputed lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira back in March of last year.

Suffering a pair of ACL tears, the first of which during his third round guillotine loss to Oliveira and the second during the recovery period off the back of the initial surgery, Lee was originally booked to return against the undefeated Roufusport grappler, Sean Brady in his return to the promotion's welterweight division for the first time since May 2019.

Meeting with the aforenoted, Ferguson in the main event of UFC 216 back in October 2017, Lee suffered a third round triangle loss to the then-surging Californian, dropping his first defeat in five outings in an interim lightweight title chase. 

In the time since -- Lee has scored victories over common-foe, Edson Barboza as well as the then-undefeated, Gregor Gillespie, the latter of which came with a massive, highlight-reel opening round high-kick at UFC 244 back in November 2019, in between a trio of losses to Al Iaquinta, as well as common-foes, Rafael dos Anjos, and Charles Oliveira.

Seeing his division-tying, 12-fight undefeated streak snapped at UFC 249 back in April of last year, Ferguson suffered a brutal eventual fifth round knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in an interim title clash.

Suffering a further two rather one-sided losses, Ferguson would go on to lose against the aforenoted, Oliveira, as well as a UFC 262 co-headlining defeat against the surging Kings MMA staple, Beneil Dariush.

Off the back of Ferguson's recent skid, Lee, who once called for a return against the former interim crown holder during his injury recovery, explained how he would now beat the former "so bad" if they ever fought again in the future.

"That was a fight that I was interested in up until I saw him (Tony Ferguson) just get dismantled by Charles Oliveira, especially on the ground," Lee said during a recent interview with James Lynch. "That one would kind of hurt my heart a little bit because I would beat him so bad that it would just kind of take away from out first fight. That's one -- I would do it, of course, I would do it, easy money is easy money at this point -- but I think he's too far gone, I think he's too far over the hill. I don't like beating up on people that don't put up a good fight."