Lee: Only I can answer the questions people have about Khabib

Kevin Lee crushed Edson Barboza on Saturday night with a mix of dominant takedowns, ground and pound, and strikes that looked eerily like division champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Fans could not but wonder what a fight between the two would look like.

With former interim champion Kevin Ferguson recovering from a freak knee injury and Conor McGregor having enshrined himself in the @$$hole Hall of Fame, Lee is suddenly in a group with Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez that could get a title shot.

Here’s the thing: Eddie was too fat to take a fight less than a month ago (at UFC 223), said Lee to Mike Bohn and John Morgan for MMAjunkie post-fight. When you say something like that and you do that, your opportunity pass you by. The man already had his shot, and he lost it, and done lost it and lost it embarrassingly. It is what it is. He was too fat a while ago. If he want the work, he can get it. Dustin, if the folks want to see Dustin then they will, but I don’t feel like he raised as many question that really need to be answered.

I feel like I bring a complete style to this game, and I can raise up a lot of questions that people want answers for, especially with people like Khabib. He can’t outwrestle me, he can’t outwork me, he can’t out-strike me. So we’re going to see what the better fight [is] and what the UFC really wants, because that’s what really matters.

If there is no immediate title shot, a fired up Lee is game to fight any leading contender.

Nate don’t really want to fight, said Lee. I told him, ‘Shut the f*** up or go back to riding bikes.’ A month later he posted a picture of him riding bikes, so I guess he already done gave me that W. We going to see how this whole thing shake out. We going to see what Conor’s doing, sitting on the sidelines or what he want, but I feel like Khabib is the next fight to be had.

Counting against Lee, perhaps significantly, was his missed weight for the fight Saturday night. With Nurmagomedov also missing weight in the past, and far worse, the UFC might not like the odds of both fighters making weight, one pound down from where they failed.

It was frustrating, said Lee. Everything inside me wanted to clam up. I never missed weight before in my life. It was just a mistiming thing. I feel like if I would have had an extra 15 minutes, man, I would have had that down. But as soon as it happened, it happened. I’ve got to focus on the fight, I pushed forward, and that just goes to show the mental strength in it. We mistimed it a little. My personal scale was a little bit off from the official scale and, I mean, it’s just the fight game, that’s going to happen. A true champion got to keep pushing forward. It tested me more than I even expected.

Lee dominated almost the entire fight. The almost is when he caught a spin kick in the head and lost his legs, but somehow reverse the crumbling to the ground into a level change and takedown. If there is a way to take a spin kick to the head, that’s it.

I feel pretty good, said Lee. I’m happy with it, never content. I’m always critical with myself. I even see some of the spots where we can clean up. But that’s just part of the game, it’s what keeps guys like me pushing and keep pushing forward in this sport and showing something new. I got in there, I got the time in, I used my experience, and I think real fighters and real fight fans saw it, and it showed through. I showed that I still got a lot of time on this sport.