Jake Matthews The battle between young UFC lightweights Jake Matthews and Kevin Lee at Friday’s The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale might be a make-or-break one toward determining their standings in one of the promotion’s most stacked divisions. And 21-year-old Australian rising star Matthews (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is well aware of that. So aware, in fact, that he was the one who handpicked Lee (12-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) as a replacement after his original opponent Stevie Ray had to withdraw from their scrap. “We had a group of names that came to us – the first one that stood out was Kevin, I think of about maybe eight guys that we had to choose from for a replacement,” Matthews told MMAjunkie Radio. “My eyes were just drawn to Kevin. I’d definitely heard his name before.
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