Master's degree in hand, Bobby Lee now looking to put on CFFC's Gaethje vs. Ferguson
Bobby Lee is proud of the master's degree he received just a few short weeks ago, and now he's looking to check off a few more boxes from his list of career goals.
First and foremost, he wants to win his first professional MMA title. Secondly, he wants to get signed by one of MMA's top promotions. And lastly – a new one he's added during MMA's ongoing pandemic era – he's ready to take part in an epic war in front of a sparse crowd, a la Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson.
"The year has not been that great for a bunch of reasons, but honestly, Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje in front of no audience was one of the most eerie, exciting things I've ever seen," Lee said. "That fight, and Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker, I mean these intense fights for world championships in front of no crowd are amazing."
Lee (11-4) gets his chance to fulfill potentially all three of those goals on Friday, when he takes on Canadian veteran Mike Hill (11-4-1) in the main event of CFFC 85, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Horseshoe Tunica Hotel & Casino in Robinsonville, Miss. With reigning CFFC welterweight champ Jeremiah Wells currently in negotiations with one of the sport's top promotions, Lee and Hill will meet for an interim 170-pound title.
For Lee, who won a title at the amateur ranks, it's his first shot at a pro belt, and the 24-year-old is excited at what the opportunity represents.
"It's a long time coming, and I've worked my whole life for this, so it's cool to start to get the recognition of the hours I've put in," Lee said. "Yes, it's an interim title, but it's still a five-round fight, so I'm still very excited about testing the waters there."
You may wonder why a 24-year-old with a master's degree is so intent on chasing MMA glory. Well, Lee's diploma isn't exactly what you might be expecting.
Fighting professionally since he was just 19 years old under the watchful eye of UFC, WEC and ONE Championship veteran Brock Larson, Lee used the frustrating year of 2020 to earn recognition of a different type.
"In 2020, to go without competing a single time, that would have been a first for me, and it would have made the year kind of suck," Lee said. "I've been with Brock Larson for a long time, like eight years now. I got my brown belt not that long ago, like a couple weeks ago. So to get recognized there for all the hours on the mat, to get my brown belt – the thing about a brown belt, if you want to stretch the imagination a little bit, it's like a master's in jiu-jitsu. It's moving up in the world of jiu-jitsu.
"To go from getting my brown belt to now getting a championship title offer, where I get to go compete against the world's best? It's incredible."
For the record, Lee sees a blue belt as jiu-jitsu's equivalent of a high school diploma, with a purple bout standing as a bachelor's degree. A black belt? Doctorate.
Lee said he realizes "people with actual master's degrees would probably like to argue" against the comparison, but he's sticking with it.
Regardless, Lee can earn something inarguable on Friday. CFFC championship belts represent an accomplishment in themselves, but they also help make a case that a fighter is ready for the big show. For a fighter who started making goal-setting a part of his athletic process way back in high school, it's a big moment.
"To have this opportunity to try to complete one of those goals, to be a professional world champion before age 25, that was one of those goals that I set a long time ago that now I'm close to completing," Lee said. "So what's the next goal? Well, let's be real, the CFFC belt is not the belt I was dreaming of. It's the UFC belt, the ONE Championship belt, something like Bellator or PFL. It is not to say the level of competition in CFFC is not great. It is. There are great fighters everywhere, and it's all killers from here on out.
"I'm going to fight Mike Hill, who's a killer from Canada. His nickname is 'The Mercenary.' That's what I'm facing, and I'm going to bring home gold at 170, and then we'll go forward from there. But I have to go out there and get a convincing win. I can't get a boring win and then get signed to a major promotion. I need to have an exciting, convincing finish."