LAS VEGAS — During fight week for the boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor in August, the UFC held Media Day to help promote their next two pay-per-view shows.
Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson were in attendance to promote their interim lightweight title fight at Saturday's UFC 216. Sporting News talked with Ferguson when the media session began and told us he had gotten into an incident with Lee in the bathroom, but wouldn't elaborate on what exactly happened.
When Lee (16-2) arrived shortly thereafter, he insisted nothing physical happened and Ferguson wanted to create an issue. He did give him a stern message as he left the impromptu bathroom meeting.
"I told him that I’m going to f— him up," Lee told SN. (Laughing) "There really was no incident. He wants to make an incident out of everything. I told him that I’m going f— him up on Oct. 7 and then he told me I had a nice outfit.
"He actually complimented me. I told him it will be a one-sided beating all the way, a one-sided beating through the media and it's going to be a one-sided beating through the fight."
MORE: Everything you need to know about UFC 216
The winner of the UFC 216 main event is expected to face champion Conor McGregor. But when the McGregor topic came up, Lee had other plans in mind.
"I will first defend my title in Detroit (UFC 219 on Dec. 2) against Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and then we will unify the belts," Lee said. "He needs to come and face me to be considered the real champion. If he does that, I will give him some props."
Before thoughts of fights against McGregor and Nurmagomedov can become a reality, Lee faces a difficult test in Ferguson (23-3), who has won nine consecutive bouts. While he respects what Ferguson has done in the UFC, Lee feels he's the overall better fighter and the strengths Ferguson brings to the table will be neutralized.
"I’m much more polished and much smarter than Ferguson realizes," Lee said. "He likes to get hit and bring out the dogfight. I strive in a dogfight. The folks in the UFC haven’t seen it because I haven’t been in one of those fights yet.
"I’ve won so easily and haven’t been in much trouble in my UFC career besides that one fight. And even then, it was an early stoppage. I’ve been in these knock-down, dragouts in the bar fights. It’s going to be interesting. But as far as skill wise, I blow him out of the water with my skills."
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can listen to his podcast, "The Fight Junkies" here. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
