A lot of action took place at the UFC Summer Kickoff Press Conference, with one of them being a near brawl between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee.
Lee threw a punch at Chiesa during their scuffle, a punch that Chiesa considers a cheap shot.
“I didn't even know he punched me until I got back stage,” Chiesa said on The MMA Hour. “As they’re pulling me back I was asking Reid, ‘did he punch me? did he punch me?’ and they were like, ‘yeah, dude. He socked you right in the face.’ I think it was a cheap shot because I’ve gone back and watched it, and if you look at the pictures, as I'm running up I get grabbed by two guys and he runs up unattended to and he just punches me. It’s not like nobody was in between us and I had run up and there was nobody intervening. He had every right to punch me in the face, but I even said over there, ‘dude, security needs to get in the middle of this because I'm about to drop this mic and run over there,’ and sure enough that’s what happened. It’s just funny that I got two guys on me and he runs up to me and punches me in the face. I’m not going to get on this show and talk a bunch of shit about him, all I know is that I got punched when I didn't even know I got punched, I think that’s all I need to say. It doesn't even matter anymore, it happened, I got punched in the face, didn't even leave a mark on my face, whatever, it’s fine. We’re going to fight in six weeks and that’s the best part about it, we get to continue what we left off on June 25th.”
The two fighters are headlining UFC Fight Night 112, it’s the first time either of them headlined a UFC card.
Chiesa says the whole scuffle started between the two because Lee broke an unspoken of rule in MMA.
“There is an unspoken rule with competitors, men and just among people in general that it’s okay to talk shit, it’s okay to promote a fight, but you just don't bring families into it,” Chiesa said. “People are saying, ‘oh he didn't even say anything that bad,’ but just the fact alone that the word ‘mom’ came up, and in the manner when you're saying, ‘oh you’re going to show up and your mom is going to be there,’ and yeah you didn't say anything that bad, but you were in route to going that path. It’s not up to him to know that I'm a momma’s boy but you know, the media knows, the UFC knows, for Christ’s sake if my mom is in attendance in a fight right after I win, they have a camera on her. That’s just my one nerve, that one button you can push to really get that kind of reaction out of me, so I don't regret it at all, but I know it won't happen again.”
UFC Fight Night 112 takes place on Sunday, June 25 from the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.
