Kevin Lee: I'll show Conor McGregor is human after winning 'real' title vs. Tony Ferguson

LAS VEGAS – There’s a lot of speculation as to whether Conor McGregor will ever return to the UFC after Saturday’s boxing encounter with Floyd Mayweather – more precisely, after the possible $100 million that may come with it.

Count Kevin Lee (16-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC), who’s set to meet Tony Ferguson (22-3 MMA, 12-1 UFC) with the interim lightweight title on the line at UFC 216, as one of the believers in a McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) return.

“I take him as a man of his word and as a competitor,” Lee told MMAjunkie during a media day this week. “If I’m judging him as a competitor, he’s got to come back out to … You know, he’s fighting dudes old enough to be my pops, that’s coming off two years of retirement. Come back and fight a young, hungry champion.

“Then we’ll really see if you’re worthy of what some of these casual fans down there really think of them. Because you’ve got so many people – he’s transcended the sport a little bit. So many people think the man is a God or something. It doesn’t make sense to me. So I’ll come back, and I’ll show them he’s a real human.”

Of course, there’s a lot to happen before that meeting. First, there’s “The Money Fight.” Then, Lee has to be the one to halt Ferguson’s nine-fight winning streak on Oct. 7 in Las Vegas. And even if both scenarios happen, UFC president Dana White isn’t committed to the idea of unifying the title right away.

Lee doesn’t see to eye-to-eye with White in that regard, dubbing the matchup “the biggest fight” for the Irishman upon his return. But it’s not like Lee is going to feel like less of a champ should that matchup never come to fruition.

“This is for the real lightweight title,” Lee said. “You can put the word interim on it all you want, but we all know McGregor is sitting on the paper champ.”

Another variable is the fourth piece of the 155-pound puzzle: Khabib Nurmagomedov. The undefeated Dagestani fighter actually was who people expected would be meeting Ferguson for the interim title. The two were scheduled to fight earlier this year before Nurmagomedov’s weight-cut issues led to a canceled UFC 209 encounter.

With Nurmagomedov unavailable to meet Ferguson, Lee was happy to step up – and get his chance to become the “true champion” in the process. But there’s always the possibility Nurmagomedov, not McGregor, is next in line to meet the Ferguson-Lee winner.

McGregor is currently ranked No. 1 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings, followed by Nurmagomedov and Ferguson at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Lee currently sits at No. 8.

For now, Lee can’t really tell how things are going to unfold – or how soon he’ll be able to come back – after UFC 216. But if he ends up against Nurmagomedov, the contender is open to doing McGregor this other favor, as well.

“I’ve said it before: I’m expecting a damn good Christmas gift out of this,” Lee said. “Because with the $100 million paycheck I’m letting Conor over there have, I’m expecting something in the mail. I’m doing his hard work for him. I’m going to take out Tony.

“And after that, who knows? The Detroit card (UFC 218, set for Dec. 2) is right around the corner. I might take out Khabib, too. Take out both the people that are favored above McGregor. And then we’ll see.”

To hear more from Lee, check out the video above.

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