The Limelight at the Summer Press Conference of the UFC in 2017 was stolen by a bitter feud between two light weights, of whom a return to UFC Atlanta on Saturday.
Before the very first trip from the UFC to Azerbaijan and a return to the familiar environment of Las Vegas for International Fight Week 2025 and UFC 317, the Octagon is in the state of Georgia.
The UFC Fight Night in Atlanta's State Farm Arena will be colored on 14 June by an important collision between Kamaru Usman and Joaquin Buckley, because the former Weltergewicht champion is better to get an attacking competition that is seven years younger.
The Line -Up on Saturday has a number of other remarkable names, including a prominent veteran who was involved in one of the most heated rivalry of 2017.
Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee fight after personal garbage talk at a UFC press conference
In May 2017, the UFC organized a Summer Kickoff -press conference, with stars such as Jones, Daniel Cormier, Chris Weidman and Holly Holm, went on stage to view an example of their upcoming fights.
Slightly going under the radar was the lightweight competition between Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee, who headed UFC Oklahoma in June of that year.
However, that changed quickly, thanks to a good old press conference scrap.
The near-Brawl was fueled by some garbage talk from Lee, whose mention of Chiesa's mother 'Maverick' rubbed in the wrong way.
After a furious Chiesa rose to lamperate 'the Motown phenomenon', he stormed to his opponent before he was beaten by Lee while the security jumped into it.
Kevin Lee got the last smile against Michael Chiesa with controversial UFC victory
Come fight Night, it went the way of Lee – but the result was not without controversy.
Lee submitted Chiesa via the rear choke in the first round, but the interruption came after referee Mario Yamasaki intervened prematurely before 'Maverick' had either broken down or went to sleep.
That controversy, in combination with what Chiesa described as a “cheap shot” at the press conference, left the 37-year-old apparently less than satisfied with Lee.
“People see me touch chies at the press conference and that is all they really know about me. They think I am,” said Lee in the Joe Rogan experience in 2018.
“I am cool, he is not. He is still angry,” Lee went on. “I think he is just the whole situation angry (over). He is angry with (how) the fight has fallen, but I think he is still characterized that I hit him (at the press conference).”
Although Lee no longer competes under the UFC banner, Chiesa has his next Octagon assignment for Saturday's event in Atlanta.
After winning his last two fights against Tony Ferguson and Max Griffin, 'Maverick' will want to continue his momentum at the expense of Court McGee.