Long-time UFC lightweight contender Kevin Lee saw his debut at the UFC welterweight challenge go contrary to plans as he was handed a sensational defeat by Rafael dos Anjos, a fellow former lightweight.

Lee who was submitted by Anjos in the fourth round in the main event of UFC Rochester by his opponent admitted a lot of work went into preparing for the title challenge. 

 “The result wasn’t exactly what I wanted, and I was upset at myself for a few days,” Lee told The Body Lock. “In terms of what went wrong, everything in the lead-up was clicking in an almost eerie way.

“Before the fight in the locker room, I was seeing certain things. You know when you’re on your way to work, and you hit every green light. It was kind of like that type of feeling I was having. I felt like everything was coming together right, and my confidence was boosting up so much. The warm-up was perfect; everything was perfect. So when it didn’t go my way, it was discouraging. I didn’t know necessarily what I was doing wrong.”

The 26-year old Detroit-born fighter believed clever Anjos deserved some heaped of praise, admitting the 34-year old Brazilian showed some class and wittiness in dumping him out of the bout.

 “What surprised me was how smart he was. He beat me tactically more than anything,” Lee stated. “When I was going, he wasn’t doing. He’s letting me burn out my energy then he took his moment when I made the last mistake.”

However, Lee was upbeat that he would not be exiting welterweight anytime soon, insisting he is better suited as a welterweight division contender than lowering his standard.

“Yeah I think so,” he said when asked if he was sticking to welterweight. “I think it’s right.”