Kevin Lee: Eddie Alvarez 'embarrassed entire division' vs. Conor McGregor at UFC 205

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Kevin Lee isn’t happy with how easily Eddie Alvarez allowed Conor McGregor to take reign of the UFC lightweight division with his title-winning victory at UFC 205.

Lee (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), one of the top prospects in the 155-pound class, said Alvarez (28-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) “embarrassed” every fighter in the weight class when he was handily dominated by featherweight champion McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) for a second-round knockout in this past weekend’s headliner in Las Vegas.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Lee told MMAjunkie today in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he fights Saturday at UFC Fight Night 99. “I was frustrated as hell the night of the fight. Eddie embarrassed the entire division. I don’t understand why he could come out with a game plan like that. Conor’s shown that he don’t get emotional in there. He makes these guys get emotional and I don’t understand, it’s not an emotional game.

“You can’t get sucked into that. To lead with a power strike every time against – Conor’s got great timing, he’s got great movement. You got to come up with a good game plan to beat him and Eddie just embarrassed the entire division.”

Lee, who fights Magomed Mustafaev (13-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC Fight Pass-streamed preliminary card at SSE Arena in Belfast, is a fighter with grand aspirations that include one day holding the lightweight belt now in McGregor’s possession.

With McGregor holding two UFC belts, though, it’s unknown how often he will defend the lightweight title and thus puts uncertainty around what type of path a fighter in Lee’s position will need to follow in order to accomplish his own dreams.

The route to UFC gold would have been a lot more clear had Alvarez defended his title, but that’s not how the situation played out. Lee said he thinks he can still get to the top, but now he wouldn’t mind if Alvarez is one of the opponents he needs to take out to get there.

“I was embarrassed for him,” Lee said. “If I ever see Eddie I’ll slap the hell out of him. It was embarrassing and it embarrassed us all. I’m 100 percent confident I’m going to get that chance. We’re just bigger men up here. (McGregor) ran into a good one in Eddie. Eddie came out like an idiot. He’s supposed to fight good against guys like that.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 99, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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