Things got ugly between Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa at today’s (May 12) “Summer Kickoff” press conference.
Lee and Chiesa will compete against each other at UFC Fight Night 112 inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on June 25. It’ll be Lee’s first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) headliner.
During the conference, “The Motown Phenom” and “The Maverick” traded verbal barbs. Things took a quick turn when Lee said the following:
“I just hope he shows up because I know his momma bought tickets.”
The comment set Chiesa off and he responded with the following:
“Shut the f*ck up. Hey, don’t you ever talk about my f*cking mom.”
Chiesa then went towards Lee, but was cut off by a security guard. Lee then threw a punch before the two were separated. Chiesa stormed off, while Lee was escorted to the backstage area with broken glasses.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation handles this situation if they do anything at all. While face-to-face confrontations and shoving isn’t typically seen as an infraction, throwing a punch in any way, shape, or form is heavily frowned upon by athletic commissions outside of competition.
You can see the incident between Lee and Chiesa in the video below: