Exclusive: Kevin Lee Hopes To Return To UFC In April, Staying At Lightweight

Kevin Lee was close to becoming the interim UFC Lightweight Champion while battling a staph infection at UFC 216, but after teasing a change in divisions, Lee has been rather quiet. 

That was until Saturday night at UFC 218, where Lee spoke to Fightful.com and other media backstage at the event in Detroit. In an interview, Lee told us that he's planning to return in the spring, and won't be switching weight classes. 

"I'm ready to get back up in there though. I started to get that itch again. I said I wanted a long break, wanted to come back in July — I'm thinking April now. This is what I love to do. The more I sit on it, the more I'm letting my body heal, 155 is definitely where I'm going to stay. 170, maybe in the future. Right now I have too much at 155. I'm going to play on my weight, play on my diet a little bit. I'm sitting here about 187, 188, I can cut that down to about 177," Lee told us.

Lee revealed to Fightful that it took him two weeks to heal up while on antibiotics to treat his staph infection, and he stayed out of the gym for about a full month. He also would go on to say that he's making changes to both his diet and his management, as well as hoping to work with Brandon Gibson and Duke Roufus. 

See our full UFC 218 results and live coverage at this link, and the Fightful.com post-show Podcast at this link.