Kevin Lee Awaiting Islam Makhachev Camp to Finalize Fight

Kevin Lee is still looking for a fight.

Ever since losing to Al Iaquinta via unanimous decision at UFC Milwaukee, Kevin Lee has been looking to get right back to work and re-enter the win column. In order to do that, Lee needs an opponent. Lee’s next opponent appeared to be set when Michael Johnson called him out and got Lee’s acceptance as well as when Lee himself called out Gregor Gillespie, but nothing ever materialized with either fighter.

At the top of the month, though, the search appeared to come to an end when the lightweight champion himself Khabib Nurmagomedov issued a challenge to Kevin Lee….on training partner and close friend Islam Makhachev’s behalf. It did not take Makhachev long to enter the conversation and speak for himself, and he and Lee seemed to agree to fight. So why has the fight not been finalized yet? Kevin Lee’s response is tantamount to a “don’t look at me”:

“He called me out a week ago. I hit up Sean Shelby right away. I’m like, let’s make the fight happen,” Lee said on a recent edition of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “And I still haven’t heard no answer back. So I’m assuming that the holdup is all on his end. His manager is with it. Sean is with it. And everybody else is with it. He just ain’t said nothing yet.”

“What can I do? I’m waiting on a call.”

Kevin Lee is currently the fifth ranked lightweight in the world, so it would seem to be only a matter of tie before the unranked Islam Makhachev puts pen to paper to officially end Kevin Lee’s pursuit of a dance partner.