Kevin Lee was winning the earlier portions of his UFC 216 interim title bout against Tony Ferguson. He likely was up on the scorecards in the opening rounds, but he slowed down and eventually got submitted by the patient and more experienced opponent.
According to Lee, the weight cut was disastrous, and battling a staph infection only made things worse.
“I feel like the (struggle to make weight) was a huge factor,” Lee said in the post-fight press conference. “The staph infection really didn’t help. I’ve been fighting it for over a week now, and it didn’t make the weight cut easier.