Chiesa, Lee discuss Interim title shot for the winner Sunday

Elias Cepeda’s Extra Rounds SI podcast just ran a special episode with interviews of lightweights Mike Chiesa and Kevin Lee, who fight Sunday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 112: Chiesa vs. Lee on Sunday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The two came to blows during a media event that got wide coverage.

“I just hope he shows up,” said Lee. “I know his momma’s got tickets.

Then it was on. However, Chiesa discounted its significance relative to the fight.

I am emotionally charged on winning a world title, that’s it,” said Chiesa. “The press conference has nothing to do with my motivation. It’s going to play no role in the fight for me what so ever. I’m a highly motivated fighter, and I’m not motivated by anything that happened at the press conference. I’m motivated by becoming world champion. That’s all I can think about, that’s all I care about. I don’t care about the press conference, I don’t care about the drama.”

There is so much more to this fight than some stupid press conference. Why are people talking about this since instead of the fact that whoever wins is going into the top five. I think that’s more relevant and more important than some stupid, immature scuffle that was partially caused on my behalf. I’m not a particular fan of having to continue to talk about the press conference, especially when I could care less about it. I feel like everybody cares about it 100 times more than I do. It’s nothing to me.

So did his mom see it?

Yeah, she saw it,” he said. “Not that she is proud of that, but that’s how I was raised. I was raised to defend, it’s second nature for me. But no one wants to see their son get in those kind of situations.

The winner of the main event on Sunday will potentially get an Interim title shot. Chiesa was asked if the UFC should try to do Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov again, after their scheduled fight was canceled due to a dangerous, failed weight cut by ‘The Eagle.’

It will not be with Khabib,” said Chiesa. “Khabib has to fight one more time. Khabib’s tough, don’t get me wrong, guy has a butt load of talent but he has to fight one more time. Ferguson showed up and made weight, Khabib didn’t.

Lee believes the winner on Sunday vs. Ferguson is in a major spot given the changes in weight classes that are coming. He believes the winner gets more than an Interim title shot.

I think it’s even bigger than that,” said Lee. “If they create an interim title, without making a 165 pound division too, I think a lot of stuff is going to shake up. Especially with Mayweather fighting McGregor. I think the sport is going to go into a different genre and you’re really going to see some pieces move. I think the winner of this fight is way bigger than people realize, because we’re going to be without McGregor for a long time. I think the winner of this fight is going to be the guy they start to get behind and they start to really push. The UFC needs to keep going and the money has to keep coming in one way or another. That’s what they’re already looking for. They’re already looking for the new generation of fighters, the ‘90s babies. You got guys like me, Max Holloway, Cody Garbrandt, Sergio Pettis, all these guys they’re really getting behind now because we’re the new generation.

… Whoever wins this fight, I think, I’m pushing for the Khabib fight because I think that’s the No. 1 fight to make after this.

I think they’re going to go with Tony and Barboza because they had such a great fight the first time. I don’t think they’re going to make Tony and Khabib again, I don’t think that makes sense. Khabib has already shown multiple times he doesn’t want to fight the man.

Lee discussed heading into the fight as the favorite.

I think he knows I’m the favorite. Obviously the folks in Vegas know I’m the favorite because the folks in Vegas are smart,” said Lee. “They’re not like these fans that can get talked into anything. You know the media picks out the rankings, so they don’t mean anything. The rankings are only about the past, it don’t matter. We’re going to the future. We’re going to the next generation. The only reason he is ranked higher is because he fought guys like Joe Miller who is on his way out. He fought Joe Lauzon who is already on his way out. He hasn’t really beat anybody who is tough. If you put me against either one of those dudes, I’ll smoke them even better than he smoked them. I think the folks realize that and when you stack our skill set against skill set, I outshine him in every area. And that’s what is going to shine through on Sunday night. He knows it too. That’s why you can see that frustration. That’s why you see that emotion. Cause he knows he has a long mountain to climb.”

Lee was asked about getting under Chiesa’s skin.

That’s what I do, I talk s***,” said Lee. “I was down in Brazil and I was screaming at Francisco in English and the motherf***er don’t speak English. That’s kind of what I do already, that’s how I grew up. We talked some s*** and we get into a fight after that. Regardless, I’m going to do that. I don’t even think what I said was what bothered him. I think deep down, when you really boil down to it, he knows he is in for a long run. We’ve moved around before and he knows bigger, stronger, faster with way more skill. That’s the part that’s frustrating him more so than what I say or do. It’s going to shine through. After the first minute, once I get in there and he sees what he is up against, he is going to go into a defensive shell and then I’m going to beat him up for five-rounds. He is tough, he can take a beating. So he is going to keep taking a lickin for five rounds.

“I think this is kind of the test, to see how I do with the extra media and promotion. See if I can still shine on fight night. From here we go on and make a big PPV happen in Detroit.”