UFC’s Paige VanZant was initially set to take on Jessica Eye in the mixed martial arts promotion’s new flyweight division at UFC 216. VanZant has since suffered an injury and has been pulled from the event, leaving Jessica Eye without an opponent for the quickly approaching fight night. Now it would appear that Jessica Eye was offered a replacement opponent in UFC newcomer Andrea Lee, but has declined the match up.
Andrea “KGB” Lee signed with the UFC earlier this year, though the fighter has yet to make her octagon debut. Lee has accrued a series of wins in both the Invicta and LFA divisions. Andrea Lee earned the LFA flyweight title after submitting Heather Bassett at LFA 4.
Last year, Lee faced a lengthy suspension for testing positive for a diuretic after suffering a loss to Invicta’s Sarah D’Alelio.
In an interview with MMAOddsBreaker.com, Andrea “KGB” Lee explained that she was offered a fight with Jessica Eye after Paige VanZant was pulled from the UFC 216 match up. However, Eye declined the offer.
Here is what Andrea Lee had to say:
“It took me a couple of hours, and then I finally decided I was going to take it. But then Jessica said she didn’t want to fight anybody else on short notice, because it would be risky. She’d been training for Paige, and that’s who she wanted to fight. So, that fell through.”
UFC 216 goes down this Saturday inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. In the night’s main event, UFC lightweight contenders Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee will battle it out for the UFC lightweight interim title.
