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22nd Mar 2017

Floyd Mayweather is using a UFC lightweight to prepare for Conor McGregor

Mind games?

Ben Kiely

Just when you thought the crossover megafight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor couldn’t get more interesting…

Tyron Woodley explained in his Champ Camp series that he keeps UFC starlet Sage Northcutt around to serve as a constant reminder of what it was like to be a young, hungry fighter who wants to prove a point. You get the feeling that Floyd Mayweather may have reached out to Kevin Lee for a similar reason.

There’s no denying the 24-year-old’s appetite. Lee’s tummy has been rumbling for a while. He has a serious chip on his shoulder and believes that his ticket to the buffet is coming sooner rather than later.

He has had some strong words to say about McGregor in the past, but the Red Panty Night queue is only getting longer. Lee isn’t even in the discussion yet, but as he told Eyes On The Game, Mayweather has reached out to him, which may see him skip forward a few places in the line.

“That fight with Floyd, it’s going to happen. Floyd’s management reached out to me a little while ago and asked me to be a part of the camp. So I’m excited to do that, I could use a couple bucks in my pocket, that’s for sure.”

Lab work ?

A post shared by Kevin Lee (@motownphenom) on

Being the far bigger man, Lee doesn’t see McGregor being rendered unconscious by ‘Money’. He doesn’t envisage ‘the Notorious’ coming out head-hunting either. Instead, he sees the Irishman trying to engage in a grimey-style and may even try some cheap shots towards the latter rounds.

“I expect Conor to come out and try to sling Floyd around a little bit in the clinch, try to wear him down. If things get too hectic about that seventh, eighth round, he might start – I don’t know, he might start to rough him up with some elbows. I’m pretty sure Floyd’s going to have us prepare him for that – being able to throw him around, and maybe even kick him a little bit. You never know.”

Eight wins and two losses in the UFC’s most populated division before turning 25 is no mean feat, but Lee hasn’t quite earned that marquee win which would see him become a genuine contender in the division. However, Irish fans may remember his comments at the UFC Belfast event in 2016 which seemed like an effort to offend every man on the island.

“All Irish guys look alike. I wish I would have known. Somebody could have told me. They all just red beards and bald heads to me.

“I don’t give a fuck. I heard somebody saying that if you go to Dublin you can’t walk around at night. I don’t give a fuck about Dublin. I’m from Detroit. We walk around at night all blacked out. If I was in Detroit or Chicago or something like that, maybe the favelas in Brazil I might be worried, but I don’t give a fuck about these drunk Irish dudes. You push they forehead, they already fall down, they drunk as it is, so I don’t care.”

Is Mayweather already starting with the mind games by bringing this guy in?