Kevin Lee plans to send message to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC on Fox 31

On December 15, at UFC on Fox 31, surging UFC lightweight contender Kevin Lee will step into the cage with Al Iaquinta, who he lost to back in 2014.

Heading into this fight, Kevin Lee is bracing for a tough night at the office.

“I think Al is tough,” Lee told Submission Radio recently (transcript via MMANytt) “His biggest attribute is that he’s very, very tough and he stays in there for as long as he can and that’s what he’s done. But, at the end of the day, the numbers don’t lie and I’ve had 12 fights since our last fight. He’s only had 6 and he’s taken some time away from the game. He’s started doing real estate and just doing it for the money.

“I’ve really dedicated myself to this and I think I’ve constantly improved and shown new things during fights and shown something new every single fight. From him, you kinda just see the same thing. He’s strong, he’s tough and he’s going to give me a good fight, but he’s going to take a beating in front of the world on Dec 15 and I think he knows that.

“I think it’s going to be a totally different fight [than our first]. I’m totally different, he might be different. Our first fight was a good fight. I still have a lot of people that hit me up about that fight and they go back and they watch it and they tell me how good it was, but, I think this one is going to be totally different.”

While Kevin Lee is eager to avenge his previous loss to Al Iaquinta, he says his main priority is sending a clear message to reigning UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov with an impressive win.

“There’s a little bit of redemption factor in this for me,” he said. “I don’t really like Al, he don’t really like me, we come from two totally different lifestyles, but I’m using this to send a message to the rest of the world that I’m on a different level. I’m using this to send a message to Khabib because he already knows, but I’m going to show the rest of the world that I’m on a different level.”

Do you think Kevin Lee can earn a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov with a win over Al Iaquinta?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/16/2018.