Chiesa-Lee card promises sparks
Two up-and-coming fighters deserving of top billing
The UFC is getting it right this weekend with a headlining bout between lightweights Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee, who will be the final pair to share the Octagon on Sunday evening at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla.
In a time where fans and media is constantly after the promotion to build new stars and give up-and-coming talent an opportunity to shine, a fight like this that pits a pair of hopefuls ranked in the top 15 of the deepest, most talent-rich division in the game against one another gets announced and the response was tepid at best.
Chiesa, who won Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter, is riding a threefight winning streak and 7-2 overall in the UFC. Last summer, he was slated to headline opposite current No. 1 contender Tony Ferguson in what most thought was a close fight. He’s ranked No. 7 in the division — ahead of Nathan Diaz and Dustin Poirier — has earned a finish in 10 of his 14 career victories and is one more win away from facing the top names in the lightweight ranks.
The same applies to Lee, who enters Sunday’s UFC Fight Night main event riding a four-fight winning streak. If you’re looking someone to hitch your “future champion” hopes on in the 155-pound ranks, “The Motown Phenom” isn’t a bad pick as the 24-year-old is already 8-2 in the UFC and still just scratching the surface of his potential.
To me, this is the exact type of matchup that should be headlining televised Fight Night events and far more appealing than seeing two established names who have either plateaued or started to decline getting top billing on reputation when the results aren’t there.
And yet this is how Bleacher Report’s Chad Dundas described this pairing on the most recent episode of The Co-Main Event Podcast on Monday: “Kind of an out-there main event; an unexpected main event, I guess you could say. Maybe an underwhelming main event just in terms of pure star power.”
Those comments only represent his initial thoughts on the pairing, however, as like a lot of fight fans, Dundas’ interest in Sunday’s main event matchup increased exponentially six weeks back when Chiesa and Lee joined several other headlining acts on stage in Dallas and things between the two got physical.
“For me personally, as I have said on this podcast, you go out there, get in a mom-related scuffle on the stage at the UFC Summer Kickoff press conference because Kevin Lee is throwing them bungalows up there, you got me,” Dundas added. “I’m in for this. I am ready for this grudge match.”
This was a great matchup before Chiesa took offence to Lee mentioning his mother and charged across the stage at him, only to catch a right hand on the jaw for his troubles, and is a great matchup in spite of how overplayed that altercation has become in the promotion of this contest.
What’s tough for me to take, however, is that for many people — including an MMA writer at a major site like Dundas, who I like and respect a great deal — there was minimal interest in this fight until the shenanigans ensued prior to UFC 211 last month.
I agree that the UFC could do a better job at identifying fighters with championship potential, developing them and giving them more time in the spotlight, but the organization has actually done a fairly good job with that in 2017 and yet the lukewarm reactions to anyone that isn’t hyped to the gills or already a household name hold steady.
Hopefully this fight delivers, the winner gets another marquee assignment in the second half of the year and start getting attention for their strong performances inside the Octagon, not just in press event scuffles.
E. Spencer Kyte covers MMA for the Vancouver Sun and Province. Follow him on twitter: @spencerkyte.