Kevin Lee admits fighting Rinat Fakhretdinov was “stupid” as he dealt with serious knee injury

Kevin Lee regrets fighting Rinat Fakhretdinov last year.

After Lee scored a decision win over Diego Sanchez in Eagle FC, he was re-signed to the UFC. In his debut fight, he was booked to face Fakhretdinov. Entering the scrap, Lee was a sizeable underdog and it was Fakhretdinov who won the fight as he recorded a submission victory in just 55 seconds.

It was a solid performance from Fakhretdinov but Lee wishes he never took that fight as he wasn’t even close to healthy. However, he says he let his ego and pride get in his way.

“In hindsight, it was a dumb fight, it was stupid. I mean, I knew my knee was torn to shreds the entire time, it was the worst training camp that I ever had. I couldn’t even spar or go hard in the training camp at all,” Lee said to MiddleEasy. “That fight was purely out of pride and ego of me being cut from the UFC, and not on the terms that I would have liked and me kind of getting this opportunity and letting my pride take over and say I would do it. Yeah. in hindsight, it was a terrible decision.”

After the loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov, Kevin Lee underwent knee surgery and retired from MMA. ‘The Motown Phenom’ wanted to focus on his health as he had hurt his knee in back-to-back fights, but was able to avoid surgery after facing Diego Sanchez.

Since retiring last year, Kevin Lee has since unretired, as he announced on social media his decision to return to fighting.

“I’m coming out of retirement. I’ll fight MMA again. Idk when, where, or who yet but I’m dropping weight and getting into shape now,” Lee wrote… “I’m gonna get in the best shape of my life that’s my focus right now. It’s been 6 months since I retired and I miss being around the sport.”

As of right now, Lee does not have any fight booked, but he will return to the lightweight division when he returns from a brief retirement.

Kevin Lee is 19-8 as a pro and coming off a 55-second submission loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov back in July. Before that, he beat Diego Sanchez by decision in his lone fight in Eagle FC. Lee has challenged for the interim lightweight title in his career while holding notable wins over Edson Barboza, Michael Chiesa, and Gregor Gillespie among others.