Kevin Lee and Michael Chiesa will headline UFC Fight Night 112 on June 25th and fans watching the UFC’s Summer Kickoff press conference on Friday were treated a taste of what that will be like when the two fighters got physical on-stage after a heated verbal exchange.
It all started when Lee started bragging about how he was the reason Chiesa was getting the chance to main event a show, and then mentioned his opponent’s mom.
““He’s gonna headline because of me,” Lee said. “After that, he’s going back to the prelims. But I just hope he shows up, because I know his momma’s got tickets.”
The mere mention of his parent was like a red rag to a bull for Chiesa.
“Don’t you ever talk about my f*cking mom,” Chiesa yelled across the stage as he stood up and pointed angirly at Lee. “I’m gonna smack the f*ck out of your right now, don’t you ever talk about my mom.”
Chiesa’s temper then boiled over and he ran towards Lee as security guard rushed to intervene, but admit the scuffle Lee landed a punch on his rival before they were separated and banished from the stage.
Afterwards the normally mild-mannered Chiesa admitted he’d lost his cool and apologized for the way he acted, but he still made it clear that he felt that talking about another fighter’s family was off-limits.
“We’re out here trying to promote fights, we’re out trying to bicker each other back and forth and gets some buzz going about our fight, and this guy wants to take things that far as to bring my mom into it.
“That’s very classless, that’s very low, and the best part about it is that in 44 days we get to fight about it.”
Chiesa then went on to mock the blow that Lee landed, stating that, “the guy couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag.”
Punches were thrown between @MikeMav22 and Kevin Lee at a UFC presser on Friday.
Chiesa took a moment to respond after the scuffle. pic.twitter.com/CniZcGXjJt
— FOX Sports: PROcast (@PROcast) 13 May 2017
Meanwhile, Lee was eager to point out that he hadn’t said anything offensive about Chiesa’s mother.
“I said His mom will be watching. ♂️,” Lee wrote on Twitter. “I’ll never say anything bad about noones family. But if you run up on me you gotta get it.
“I stayed sitting down, never said nothing bad about his family and he decided he wanted to stand up, run and catch a fade. Got me fucked up.”
At this stage it’s not clear if either fighter will be punished for their actions on-stage.
