A lot of people had took great satisfaction in Al Iaquinta’s victory over Kevin Lee in the main event of UFC Milwaukee, but none more than Iaquinta himself. Iaquinta could be seen releasing a guttural scream in the face of Kevin Lee after the final tick elapsed; and earlier this week, Iaquinta explained what was the impetus for the primal outburst:
“It was just a lot of emotion,” Iaquinta said about the scream during “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” on Monday. “…a lot of his talking, a lot of him dancing out to the cage, outfits, and all that shit. This is how it’s done. Look at me. I’m the way that this thing is done, you know? I do this thing right. So I went out there, and I showed him how to fight.”
Iaquinta wasn’t the only person who believes Kevin Lee was due for an attitude adjustment, with Khabib also advising Kevin Lee to “be humble” after Lee took home the loss. However, not everyone feels this way. One particular man of interest who clashes with Iaquinta’s assessment of Lee is Iaquinta’s coach Matt Serra, who defended Lee in a recent episode of “UFC Unfiltered.”
“I think this sport’s made up of different characters. I like it,” Serra said of Kevin Lee’s pre-fight antics. “I want him to dance to the cage again. I fucking enjoy it! If Al tried to dance to the cage, I wouldn’t like that at all. It’s not Al. It wouldn’t be him.
“That’s Kevin Lee. And it’s not like he dances to the cage and can’t fight. He got bested. He got bested by Al. But he’ll be smiling and singing to the cage, and he’ll go in there and he’ll beat the crap out of Edson Barboza!
“So I mean, he’s a bad motherfucker, dude. He mounted Tony Ferguson. And he did it being cocky. But I mean, look, man, that’s who he is….I don’t want the guy to change.”
Matt Serra’s defense of Kevin Lee did come with one caveat, however:
“But when you do talk that shit…if you win, hey, look at that guy. He said he was gonna do it and he was talkin’ all that shit…but if you do lose and you talk that shit, you gotta expect to get some shit.”
Do you agree with Matt Serra? Is Kevin Lee just being who he is? Or do you agree with Al Iaquinta and Khabib that he needed an attitude adjustment?
