Invicta FC 23's Andrea Lee skipping chance to be inaugural UFC 125 champ for daughter

Andrea Lee is one of the best prospects around in the women’s flyweight division right now. But despite a big opportunity for her weight class next week, “KGB” is putting a family-first mentality out there.

Lee (6-2) goes after here third straight win on Saturday when she meets Liz Tracy (3-1) at Invict FC 23, which takes place at Scottish Rite Temple in Kansas City, Mo. The card streams on UFC Fight Pass.

On Tuesday next week, the UFC is holding tryouts for Season 26 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in her division, and for the first time will crown a champion in the weight class. Win the season, and you’re the inaugural UFC women’s flyweight champ.

That prospect sounds great to Lee – if it wasn’t so close to her fight with Tracy, and if it didn’t mean she’d have to sacrfice a giant stretch of time in the “TUF” house away from her daughter.

“I think it’s an exciting opportunity,” Lee told Laura Sanko for UFC Fight Pass ahead of Invicta FC 23. “(But) it’s so close to this fight – it’s three days from (the fight). … I’d miss out on my daughter’s summer and her first graduation – she’s graduating from kindergarten, and I’m excited to be there for that.”

But there might be an added advantage to not being part of the show, the way Lee is looking at it. When the season starts to air early this fall on FS1 and culminates with what is likely to be a live finale in December and the inaugural women’s flyweight title fight, Lee will have been getting her research game on.

“I get to sit at home and do homework on all the girls that are in the house,” she said. “It would be great to have the opportunity to be the first (UFC) flyweight champion, and I did want that. I just think maybe that’s not necessarily the path for me. But I still plan on being the UFC champion, one way or another.”

Being a champion is something she started to get acquainted with in February when she submitted Heather Bassett to win LFA’s women’s flyweight title. That came on the heels of a knockout win over Jenny Liou at Invicta FC 21 in January.

In Lee’s six pro wins, five are by stoppage. That’s a trend she’d love to continue against Tracy now that she’s back under the Invicta banner after the title fight for LFA.

“I think she’s tough – she’s a pressure fighter,” Lee said. “She’s going to come forward – she can take a solid beating. I’ve seen her fights, and she’s a really tough girl. She’s going to be hard to finish. I don’t know if this is going to go three rounds or not – I’m hoping it doesn’t. I want to get the finish. But if it goes three rounds, it’s still going to be an exciting fight.”

For more from Sanko with Lee, check out the video above.

For more on Invicta FC 23, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.