Kevin Lee will give it another go at welterweight – at least for his next fight. And he’s got a stiff test in front of him.
Lee, a former UFC interim lightweight title challenger, will take on undefeated Sean Brady on July 10 at UFC 264 in Las Vegas. A person with knowledge of the booking confirmed to MMA Junkie that both sides have verbally agreed. ESPN was first to report the matchup Saturday.
Lee, 28, tried his hand at 170 pounds once before, losing by fourth-round submission to Rafael dos Anjos in May 2019. Lee’s decision to move up in weight then was because of his struggles to make the lightweight limit. Since that fight, Lee (18-6 MMA, 11-6 UFC) returned to 155 pounds and defeated Gregor Gillespie by knockout. In his most recent bout in March 2020, Lee was submitted in the third round by Charles Oliveira after missing weight by two-and-a-half pounds.
Brady, also 28, is yet to experience defeat in his professional MMA career, which began in August 2014. Brady made his UFC debut in October 2019 and has reeled off four victories against Court McGee, Ismail Naurdiev, Christian Aguilera, and most recently Jake Matthews at UFC 259. Brady is currently ranked No. 13 in the official UFC welterweight rankings.
With the addition, the UFC 264 lineup now includes:
- Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor
- Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson
- Jessica Eye vs. Jennifer Maia
- Ryan Hall vs. Ilia Topuria
- Omari Akhmedov vs. Brad Tavares
- Jerome Rivera vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
- Greg Hardy vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Trevin Giles
- Sean O’Malley vs. Louis Smolka
- Sean Brady vs. Kevin Lee