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what’s up everybody Brett okamoto from ESPN and look who I got with me today it is uh lightweight slash welterweight slash 165 pounder Kevin Lee a veteran of the MMA game Who Um I gotta say man like when I Was preparing for this interview as I prepare for all my interviews you know I go back and look at you know the information and sort of the stuff that’s come out over the last six months there is not much on you man like you have not fought obviously since March now hasn’t been a lot of news written about you um and even your social medias have been pretty dark with the exception of announcing that she had a son and then I think wishing everybody happy holidays basically you have been off the grid so I guess to start off this interview why were you off the grid so much and tell me about uh I guess you know what you were doing last year I feel like sometimes you you kind of gotta take a step back in order to to push it Forward right um I feel like the less that I put out there would almost make what I do next even bigger and then once I really do get back out there which I plan on this year you know posting a lot more like you said social media and and making more of these headlines uh it almost like remind people like oh yeah he’s still there you know I I feel like I kind of wanted to take a step back to to see who was really in my corner right to see who really like either wrote me off as soon as they they they I was out of their Limelight they wrote me off or they just moved on to the next big thing well then now I know where where I’ll fit in the next time that I’ll blow back up so um yeah I feel like it was it’s long overdue but it’s about time for me to to shine a little bit I I’ve had a lot of healing that I had to do over this last year but now I’m fully healed up I got my son you know the pregnancy is over all of that stuff and uh and uh I’m ready to get back to work I’m ready to make that happen congratulations on your son by the way how’s that been appreciate that man it’s it’s a blessing it’s a blessing it’s it’s it’s a different level of motivation that you can’t explain to somebody else and there’s so many things that people say like oh once you have a kid this will change that’ll change that is so true and it’s hard for me to really I can’t I can’t I see why people have said they can’t explain it because it’s just it’s not explainable like now I don’t even I don’t give a damn about about myself you know like I really don’t like I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna fight my ass off for this kid now like it’s it’s totally different so it’s it’s a blessing every day is is getting better and better and better yeah man it’s really it’s broken up into two groups of people people who have had kids and and who haven’t had kids and like it’s I was the same as you my son’s two and a half and before your kids like yes you understand and you’re hearing it and you’re like I believe that everything they’re saying is true but you don’t know what it feels like you just you don’t know what it feels like you can believe them and say I’m sure you’re right and I’ll experience that someday but you have no idea what they’re talking about until it actually happens that was my experience and then now it’s like this is about to it’s it’s so crazy it’s just a different level of motivation you know and I look at certain guys even in the sport and see like you said they took that that step from the person that had no kids to okay now I got kids and it’s a different level that that you’re able to tap into so I’m kind of excited about it all around the board so from a professional standpoint though like what did you it was it’s been a weird kind of thing right you were released from the UFC for people that don’t remember you were released by the UFC you weren’t real happy about it that was not one of those releases where you were like hey get me out of here like that was one where they essentially cut you um you ended up going to Eagle FC fought one time in March and then are I guess are you still technically signed with eagle FC or because of obviously the things that are going on in the world they can’t hold fights right now or they’re not holding a fights in the United States so what is the situation with your contract legal I see yeah I think it’s like you said like they they there’s so much going on in the world they’re not able to to throw fights on but uh before we even made the contract I that this is why I said they gave me such a great contract in the first place technically I’m I’m signed with them but I can go to different promotions too you know I can I can go I can shop around I’m I’m basically a free agent right now but I had that backup of of having that contract but uh they gave me such a good contract because I can I can move around I can bounce around and that’s what we’re looking to do right now um it’s it’s you’re some of these things are so unpredictable right who would predict that the world would be in the places that it’s in from last year so now that it’s in this space we can we can uh they gave me enough freedom and flexibility that you wouldn’t give with other contracts okay and so you say you’re essentially a free agent and you’re looking around at other options so I want to get to those options but I think before we talk about the options of where you’re going going we have to talk about who’s representing you in that because another thing another piece of information that we do have on you is that you just signed with dominance MMA which is Ali Abdel Aziz you were previously with Markel Martin Markel Martin was that creative artist agency CAA um which he left left CAA but he was still representing you at that time right I can what what were the conversations like with you and Markel and then ultimately what was he sort of negotiating for you and then why the the switch in management so so here’s the thing basically CAA dissolved their their MMA promotion or their MMA Department right they they dissolved all the all of the fighters not just not just me and Markel but pretty much everybody uh uh got cut from this big Hollywood agency right they they decided they didn’t want nothing to do with MMA anymore why that is I I don’t know um so once that happened I’m gonna obviously stick loyalty by my God I’m gonna stick with Markell and we’re going to make things happen but at the end of the day this is this is about relationships that you have with people and it’s about building teams and and what where you can really highlight everything in in your career right so um I got his Blessing me and him had conversations I got his Blessing to to move over and move with Ali and it’s for a number of reasons right uh I’ve accepted Islam right I’ve converted over to to Islam uh and really accepting my place in life as a Muslim and just there and alone kind of brought me into the Brotherhood of of speaking with more Muslims and and and uh me forming like more of a a bond with these people um and Ali is somebody I’ve known for years years and years we we trained together we got deep respect for each other and he’s got a lot of relationships in MMA so it made sense in in the partnership just worked out and I got marquel’s blessing to to to move over and me and Markel will still speak and um there’s not really any black blood in it but I’m looking for the future you know I got a son now I got I got to make things happen I got I got money that’s that’s on the table uh and I feel like I can fight more fight more frequently and um I can really ramp up my career by moving on when did you inform Markel that you were going to make this move uh about a month ago almost it’s almost been a month okay and then in the ghost go ahead go ahead well I I want you to finish your thought I was just going to say at that time when when you made the the decision to uh change management what was Markel negotiating for you what were like the conversations like were they real active like what was going on in your career I guess when you decided to make the change so Eagles been stagnant right we we know that they aren’t throwing any shows especially here in the US they haven’t been throwing a show since last May it’s all it’s almost been a year um so we were in negotiations with pfl to get something done with them um but the the conversations just weren’t going right you know they they weren’t they weren’t being had right uh why that isn’t on what end I I’m not necessarily sure right I’m I’m the fighter right I’m on the outside of it so it’s hard for me to know when when and where or what’s being what’s going on really um but all these things are all happening at the same time and uh Ali comes by and he helped me get the the ego deal right with Ali that that’s the one that we went to to negotiate the eagle deal and and um for me to negotiate my way out of this ego deal or or let them let me go where somewhere else I was speaking with Ali and we just continued those conversations on until he ends up becoming my manager yeah I guess um at this point in your career um what are you looking for on out of a manager uh because I’m I’m just going to address I think of what the reality that I think a lot of people know Markel has has butted heads a lot with the with with the with the promotion UFC yeah mostly over Francis and ganu um but he also was at CAA that’s you know obviously we know the dichotomy there CAA and WME owns uh the UFC Ali whether for for right or wrong and I think some people aren’t aware of some of the the the arguments that he gets in with the OC but he’s looked at as having a very close relationship with promoters like he’s a pro promoter uh manager he has positive relationships with managers like what as a fighter how are you making these decisions man because I think people fans are are curious about that because you want to pick a manager that’s going to represent you the most there’s positives and negatives to all of it like what’s going through your head when you’re trying to decide what’s best for me yeah when you when you when you say it like that right you and I’ve heard a lot of people say that and kind of put down Ali for that like oh he’s got in with with these promotions and oh he’s got he he’s so close with these promotions that’s what you’re paying a manager for you’re you’re paying a manager for his relationships right he he’s representing you he’s representing me to to these people that I’m not necessarily gonna speak to right I I do feel like I could probably manage myself even and just speak to these promoters and you know I always approach people with respect right and I always approach people in the right way uh that’s what you’re paying your manager to do and you said it for me Martel has kind of been butting heads with with a lot of the top people and um that’s exactly what I’m not I don’t want to have happen you know because now you’re you’re it’s reflecting bad on me um and that’s not to say that he he doesn’t know how to do his job right that’s not to say that he’s doing his job wrong but at a certain point of your career you got to make the switch over right if this was three years ago it would look a little different now I’m on the outs of of the UFC uh pretty much anybody in the in the promotion knows I got cut because of the Francis Nagano situation um and that all those things kind of add up to to changes being made so I’m what I’m looking for out of a manager is is his relationships and I I feel like that’s what any fighter should look for you should look for those relationships I I can’t spend my time building up these relationships and having these conversations this sport is way too hard to do it’s it takes too much time and too many hours in a day for me to do that and especially at my age now uh I’ve got a few more years left of of me really pursuing this thing that I need to give it my full and divided attention is going to be for these next three years is just on the fighting so I need to know that that my manager is out there represent me in the best life yeah I mean it’s it’s it’s a dilemma and I do think that uh it varies depending on like you said maybe where you’re at in your career who you are what you’re looking for um and I don’t you know again I think a lot of people are unaware of some of the arguments that Ali has with different various promotions um whether it’s the UFC that uh he is arguing on behalf of his clients and I think some people are unaware that Markel has had good conversations with different promotions as well it’s not all all Markel is fighting them all the time and Ali is saying yes to them all the time but it’s a different way of doing business you know um so it’s it’s an interesting one so so you you end up going with Ali then so what is the latest now how did that change the conversations that were going on with pfl it changed them a lot you know he’s got he’s he’s got deeper relationships with him right um and and I think even more it showed that I’m serious about this next phase of my career um and I think when they look at it they they can see okay he’s making the the right changes right I’ve moved down here to Florida I’ve changed my team I’ve been with kill Cliff FC this entire last year um and I feel like now I really have the right team behind me as far as training wise and now I’ve got the right team behind me as far as management wise so now I just need the right team as far as promotion and then we we all set to go we could take this thing to another level so I think by me doing that showed that I was willing to to kind of put my ego on the back burner and and say okay yeah I could use some help in this in this one area you know so so now when I go into this next contract you you see where I’m at you see what I’m doing uh people know that I can fight right people the world knows that I can fight I mean I really have to thank the UFC a lot they they’ve made me kind of a household name especially in MMA uh when we’re doing these these negotiations and we’re going over the numbers over over 10 million people have watched me fight live right when you add up everything 150 million people have seen me in one way or another that is it’s been hundreds of thousands of dollars invested into my promotion and and making me who I am uh and I feel like I I’ve done all that right you know what you’re going to get it when when you get a Kevin Lee fight you know what you’re gonna do you know you’re gonna get I’m you’ve never seen me in a Bourne fight you’ve never seen me beat them up you really never see me knocked out so now you’re gonna see me have the right promotion behind me have the right management behind me and uh and and I feel like pfl knows that that or whoever I work with knows that I could take that to the next level okay so it sounds like things are progressing um pretty well with with pfl was there any talk with the UFC going back is that is that something that can be repaired is that something that’s that’s a possibility or you think that that’s that’s behind you now that that’s been floated out there a few times um and and I have thought about it but I’m not putting no energy towards it to be honest with you uh I feel like there’s there’s so many opportunities in this sport um and there’s a big opportunity now with pfl you know they just signed Jake Paul uh they’re making a lot of waves and outside of the realm you know outside of the the bubble that UFC has created um there there’s a lot of opportunity outside of it and I’m one of the most experienced guys you know you you can’t look at anybody who’s unsigned from the UFC that that has my record has fought the people that I’ve fought and has my age and my upside to me either so I would almost be hurting my leverage if I was just to straight go back with UFC right now so it’s something that I’m I’m kind of interested but it would have to be the right offer it had to be the right fight it had to be something that something other than than just to say I’m a UFC fighter I’ve been I’ve been there and done that that doesn’t that doesn’t do that much for me right um a million dollars sounds a whole lot better yeah so yeah I’d rather get a million well you answer my question and I assumed that you were looking at this as like joining the the regular season roster but of course now they do have that Jake Paul super division where you know you’re taking Pay-Per-View fights but you’re thinking of yourself as getting a regular season fight frequently and win a million dollars in the in the season format potentially that that’s what I was thinking right I’ve been in negotiations with him for about three weeks um and then I don’t know where they hit us with this Jake Paul thing yesterday so it’s still kind of fresh in my mind right but this if they’re doing super fights now what what better way to do it to do a fight than than do a super fight with me I mean I don’t know um I I do think if if Jake Paul is serious right if he’s serious about about fighting MMA um for one I’m gonna give him respect even if he just steps into the cage it’s totally different than the boxing arena this this thing is going to be totally different but if he wants real respect out of out of people who really understand fighting he’s gonna have to fight somebody like me I mean I’m in the problem of my career a hell of a wrestler I fought six different world champions guys like Charles Oliveira Tony Ferguson uh you the list could go on and on you know Michael Fiesta Edison Barbosa I’ve already fought all these guys so even if he was to make it the distance with me or even if he was to make it past one bill uh people can look at him and say oh okay this guy could fight Leon Edwards one day like he he would actually have potential right now it’s kind of it’s It’s a freak show that he’s putting on and he’s making money but I’m in the business of making money too if he wants to make it legitimate then then uh I think I I’ll be around if they if you do decide to go the tournament route 170 I would imagine 170 yeah 170. did you really uh pay attention to the 170 years in this year at pfl I did I did yeah I trained with a few of them too what do you what do you think of the level of competition at pfl and the welterweights um I think I think you got a few good good guys right you you you do uh Sato busy is is is legit he’s he’s a good kickboxer I’ve trained with him before too um he he would keep you on your toes but none of the guys have anything that I haven’t seen before and I don’t think any of them have the the same level of intensity that that I could bring to a fight um I I think it’s just levels there’s levels and and I think I’ve I’ve I’d have been at a different level than a lot of those guys even though they they have good skills I give them that man it’s really great to talk to you man and I’m looking forward to to you know the official announcement of where you’re going next I I think the last thing I would ask you is just like what did you what is your mood like going into this year and I’ll and I’ll say the reason why I’m asking that is because I feel like someone in your position could be a little bitter just about your career you know just from the standpoint of like you know you’ve talked about it before you’ve fought great competition from a very early age um I think back to the uh the staff infection around Tony which was nobody’s fault probably necessarily it was just bad luck you know I mean you had you had a chance to fight for a USC championship and you had staff uh you know the Charles all the verified you said that you didn’t want really in the first place um then you get cut you know and now you feel like you’re kind of dragged into this political thing and the eagle FC comes along you’re happy there that rug gets pulled out from one of your life I I feel bad man because I feel like people watching soon to be like God Brett’s so negative but I’m just like I’m looking at your career and I’m just like I feel like like maybe you haven’t had a chance to live up to your potential yet if that’s a fair way to say it I don’t know I mean I guess it’s like what is your mood like coming into this year and like I guess what’s your motivation are you trying to prove anything are you just trying to make money for your son like like what’s what’s important to you I guess like if that’s if that long question makes sense uh uh I get you I I’m super if I had to sum up everything in one word I’m optimistic I’m optimistic and I’m I’m excited like that’s that’s the the mood is excitement like I I feel it in the air like the last two years have been so they just have like for all the reasons that that that you list right um and it’s just one thing after another thing after another thing my my knees and then things just kind of add up but I don’t know since I had that kid man since I since I saw him like my mood just elevated right right off the back it’s been hard work right it’s hard at the kids but it just elevated everything to to the point where I’m optimistic about the future and what’s to come you know my brother is making big moves he he’s signing big deals and he’s one of the biggest social media stars in the world right now um and he’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger as the days go on and and I’m and I’m sitting and I’m looking at that and this is all within the last few months and I’m like oh all right it’s his time now it’s gonna be my time next you know my time is up I just have to stay consistent and stay working at it and it it would be easy to get bitter right and I feel like I I feel like I I have stayed in that a little bit um and that’s even part of of my reason for kind of going dark and staying away from everything just so I don’t spread that the the spread the negativity um but now I’m just ready to step out of it like I’m I’m I just am like my mood is is is excited like I want to get in there and get it done like I want to fight like I want to fight you know like you said when I fought Charles out of there aloe vera I feel like almost had to do it like oh okay all right I guess I’ll go ahead and and sure I get it done and even after that fight if you remember the press conference I did afterwards the the first lady that asked me I said I’m going to step away for a few years I’m not going to fight for a few years it’s been three years now I kind of I kind of did it to myself I kind of said that I was gonna step away and then that’s what that’s what happened and uh now it’s time to get back on and get back on that horse and I I’m ready to do that you know I’m ready for it uh I’m not forcing it I didn’t let it be forced I’m ready for it so yeah I’m I’m I’m optimistic about how things are gonna go well I’m not just saying this man I’m genuinely uh looking forward to seeing you back on uh social media but then also of course back in back in competition and some some real fights I think there are a lot of interesting fights out there for you like you mentioned earlier man you’re still very much in your Prime you’ve had a long career we’re talking about a lot of different things that have happened to you over the course of your career but um you still have a lot to give to it if you want to so uh thanks for the time man and and I appreciate the conversation and we’ll look forward to what’s next appreciate you Brett appreciate you bro it’s always good talking to you too thank you for watching ESP on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus