Outside Source
Lee delivered a speech campaigning for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who is a longtime political rival of President Donald Trump. Lee was coming off a bonus-winning stoppage over Gregor Gillespie when Sanders’ team contacted him. Lee had no monetary incentive to campaign for Sanders, who he thought would win the election in 2020.
“My career really started going south after that Gregor fight,” Lee recently told Eric Cerminara. “Because I decided to get political, shoutout to Bernie Sanders. And then I went and I spoke for Bernie Sanders at this convention or something. His people reached out to me, they were like, ‘Hey, you want to do a little speech?’ I was like, ‘Sure.’ No money, I just did it – felt like it was cool, I thought he would be president.”
Lee believes his relationship with the UFC was ruined due to his speech supporting Sanders. Lee was then booked to headline a UFC Fight Night against Charles Oliveira in Brasilia, Brazil, right as the COVID-19 pandemic started. Lee claims he was made to fly to Brazil for one day to fulfill media obligations just two weeks before the fight. “Motown Phenom” claims he wasn’t given food, and there was no one to braid his hair. Considering the UFC’s growing alliance with Trump, Lee knows that he made a mistake by supporting Sanders. Lee claims he even ignored Trump, who wanted to meet him backstage after a fight.
Turning Point
“From there I felt our relationship turned,” Lee said. “Stopped getting the same calls, started getting the wrong calls. F—-ing fighting Charles, started the pandemic in Brazil. Two weeks before that fight, they flew me down there for one day, a media day. Spent more time in the air than I did on the ground. Two weeks before the fight, sounds like an excuse. F—ing terrible, they didn’t give me no food, they didn’t even have somebody to braid my hair. The whole relationship changed after doing that Bernie Sanders thing. Seeing how much they’re in with Trump now, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, alright, I f—ed up.’ After that fight, Trump wanted to meet me backstage and I f—-ing walked out. Which is crazy, because I voted for Trump the second time.”
Lee (20-9) missed weight by 2.5 pounds for the fight against Oliveira and lost via submission. The former interim lightweight challenger just fought once more in the UFC before being released by the promotion. After a fight on the regional circuit, Lee returned to the UFC for a one-off outing, where he suffered another submission loss against Rinat Fakkretdinov. While Lee announced his retirement from MMA in 2023, he returned to competition in 2024, picking up a win on the regional circuit before suffering a loss against Gadzhi Rabadanov at PFL.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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