“The Motown Phenom” Kevin Lee showed that he continues to evolve and improve his game at UFC Fight Night in Atlantic City on Saturday night. Lee outstruck his opponent Edson Barboza 233-64 en route to a fifth round knockout victory via doctor’s stoppage.

Lee did face some adversity in the third round where he was stumbled by a spinning wheel kick, one of Barboza’s specialties.

Lee utilized his takedowns to control Barboza on the ground for more than 13 minutes of the fight where he landed many strikes from top control.

After the fight, Lee called for a fight against the champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who he has been vocal about wanting to fight for several years.

The win will vault Lee into the division’s top-5 and with question marks surrounding Conor McGregor’s return and an injury to Tony Ferguson, there are many possibilities for the young fighter.

This was Lee’s first fight since the passing of his head coach Robert Follis last December.

 

Edgar bounces back

Many were critical of former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar’s decision to return to octagon action so shortly after suffering a knockout loss. Back in early March at UFC 222, Edgar was hit with a vicious elbow by rising featherweight Brian Ortega and lost by knockout for the first time of his career.

Eager to return and right that wrong, Edgar asked to fight on the card in Atlantic City, which is less than an hour drive from his hometown of Toms River, New Jersey and was booked against Cub Swanson, an opponent that he had defeated previously.

This time around, in a fight that was three rounds rather than the five rounds the last time they faced off, the result was the same as Edgar walked away with the victory. Unlike the first time they met, Edgar was unable to finish Swanson, which he did near the end of the fifth round in their previous meeting and won by unanimous decision (30-27 on all cards).

Following the win, Edgar said that he hoped to face the winner of the next featherweight championship fight.

 

UFC Chile loses main and co-main event

The UFC’s upcoming card on May 19th in Santiago, Chile, the promotion’s first event held in the country, was dealt two very big blows over the weekend.

Due to a hand injury, Argentinian Santiago Ponzinnibio, who was to face Kamaru Usman in the main event and was the local draw for the event, was forced to withdraw.

Usman would like to stay on the card, but expressed that he would only do so if he was given a ranked opponent and right now, most of them are either matched up or injured.

To make matters worse, the co-main event between Volkan Oezdemir and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was canceled due to Oezdemir’s ongoing legal issue, which prevents him from leaving America. Oezdemir was arrested for aggravated battery in November.

The promotion is looking to re-book the fight for sometime this summer.

 

Holloway vs. Ortega added to UFC 226

International fight week just got even more intriguing with the addition of Max Holloway’s second featherweight title defense against rising star Brian Ortega.

Holloway was scheduled to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov earlier this month at UFC 223 in Brooklyn, but was forced off the card due to being deemed unsafe to continue cutting weight after taking the fight on short notice.

Ortega is undefeated with a 14-0-1 record and most recently defeated Frankie Edgar in March by first round knockout.

Holloway has won 12 straight fights with his last loss coming to Conor McGregor in 2013.

Another intriguing fight added to UFC 226 is between recent heavyweight title challenger Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis. Lewis recently called out Ngannou following his win over Marcin Tybura in February.

 

Greg Hardy to get a chance at a UFC contract

Troubled former NFL player Greg Hardy has been making the transition to a mixed martial arts career and has accrued a 3-0 amateur record with all three wins coming by way of first round knockout.

Despite not having any professional victories, Hardy will get his shot at earning his way to the big show when he competes on the Dana White Contender Series on June 12 according to MMA Today.

Hardy will face 5-1 Brandon Sayles on the card and can earn a UFC contract if he wins the fight and his performance is handpicked by Dana White as being a standout from the event.

Hardy was arrested in 2014 and found guilty of assaulting a female and communicating threats and was also arrested for cocaine possession in 2016.

Hardy has been training at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, one of the top mixed martial arts gyms in the world.