Karyn Bryant recalls on-air beef that first sold Tony Ferguson vs. Kevin Lee to us at UFC 216

Kevin Lee had barely left the octagon after a UFC Fight Night 112 win over Michael Chiesa when he engaged in another exchange – this time a verbal one, with fellow lightweight Tony Ferguson.

Ferguson was working the desk as an analyst when a question at FS1’s post-fight show prompted a visibly annoyed Lee to call for a “real journalist” to talk to. A heated back-and-forth went on for minutes. By the end of it, Lee – who’d actually called out Khabib Nurmagomedov minutes earlier – was telling Ferguson that “you can get it in” and that it’d be “easy money.”

At UFC 216 tonight, Ferguson (23-3 MMA, 13-1 UFC) and Lee (16-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) will get to settle their differences in the octagon – this time with the division’s interim belt on the line. And Karyn Bryant, who was also working the desk at that post-fight show, looks back on the night this matchup caught some serious traction.

“It was so weird, because we didn’t really expect that,” Bryant told MMAjunkie Radio. “Obviously, when you put Tony and Kevin together, they both have strong personalities. But I don’t know – I just didn’t expect that whole thing to start popping off like it did that first time.

“At first, it was sort of like, ‘OK, I can kind of be interested in that fight. But I really think Tony deserves just a straight-up title shot or whatever.’ But now they’ve spent so much time going at each other and the more the time, the more I’m actually totally sold on this. Still want to see these other fights, but both of these guys have definitely captivated my attention.”

Speaking to Ferguson later, after the interim title bout had already been scheduled, Bryant says she took it upon herself to tell him that she was in no way instructed to stir something up between the two notoriously outspoken 155-pound contenders on air.

But, once they got going, she wasn’t told to stop them, either.

“I always have somebody in my ear saying either jump in or don’t jump in,” Bryant said. “But they definitely just kind of stayed quiet for a while and let it play out organically.”

Oddly enough, Bryant was present for yet another heated Ferguson-related altercation. During a media event to promote UFC 216 earlier this week in Los Angeles, Ferguson was sitting next to former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum (21-7-1 MMA, 9-4 UFC) when a heated argument led to the fighters being separated by a UFC representative.

Initial images showed Ferguson talking to media when a harmless comment by Werdum, which incidentally was directed toward Bryant, had Ferguson asking the heavyweight to not interrupt him. What followed was quite the animated reaction by Werdum – who’d later catch heat for his repeated usage of the gay slur “maricón.”

Later, Bryant released via her website, MMA H.E.A.T, a 360-degree unedited video showing the lead-up to the situation. In the images, Werdum can be seen keeping to himself – and even asking Bryant, in Portuguese, about why Ferguson didn’t seem quite like himself.

Meanwhile the intense Ferguson, in a much more somber mood, at some point even makes remarks about how he was so prepared he could even fight Werdum for a title and “kick this guy’s ass.”

Bryant clarified the intentions behind releasing the video. Her website she explained, is not in the gossip business and has always looked to portray fighters in their most positive light. But, after the “surprising” argument, she wanted to show that Werdum wasn’t looking to start trouble.

“I felt like a lot of people kind of jumped on Fabricio and blamed it all on him,” Bryant said. “And I knew, from the beginning that he actually – he came in and asked me, ‘What’s going on with Tony?’ If people watch the video, you see Fabricio and I speaking in Portuguese a little bit when Tony walks away.

“And he’s asking me, ‘What’s going on with him? Is he sad? He doesn’t seem like himself today.’ I say, ‘Maybe he’s a little sad, maybe he’s thinking about the fight. Maybe he’s really hungry, I don’t know. But he does kind of seem a little less than himself today than the usual good mood that I see him in.’

“So Fabricio was actually concerned, ’cause he’s never had an issue with him before. So when the thing escalated like that, I did think that the 360 video would sort of help show that Fabricio didn’t go there with an antagonistic mindset.”

Both Ferguson and Werdum are set to fight at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena – not with each other, of course. While Ferguson meets Lee in the night’s headliner, Werdum fights fellow heavyweight Derrick Lewis on a pay-per-view main-card scrap.

To hear Bryant’s account of the beefs, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 216, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.