Dana White has repeatedly said the UFC is not going to be creating a 165 division; at least, not while he’s running the show. But, that hasn’t stopped Kevin Lee from proposing a backroom deal with Rafael dos Anjos, whereby their upcoming fight will go down at 165.

Lee and RDA are going to battle at UFC Rochester, which will take place on May 18th. Both fighters have moved up to welterweight due to the trouble they have making 155, but both are small for the 170 weight class. Thus, Lee has been one of the most vocal proponents for a 165 pound division.

Well, although White has said it ain’t happening, Lee recently made this interesting proposal (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“Maybe, it might be a little backroom deal that we got on there,” Lee said, when asked about asking dos Anjos to cut to 165.  “‘RDA’ is kind of, he don’t really give you too much to go off of, and he don’t really give you too much back and forth, so, you know – I’ll ask him, see what he thinks about it.

“If he’s down with it, I’d be down – and I’d cut an extra little five pounds for that, make a statement, make some noise. It’s in our contract, we ain’t got to, but I like to push some buttons.”

Yup, if both guys showed up for the weigh-ins at 165, it would certainly turn some heads. But, since RDA has been back at 170 for a little while now, you have to wonder whether he wants to do this, solely for the purposes of making a statement.

Lee is moving up to 170, following his decision loss to lightweight contender, Al Iaquinta in December.

Share: 

Mentioned in this article:

More About: