Athletes
No Holding Back For Andrea Lee
Veteran Flyweight Vows To Get Back To Attacking Ways As She Faces Off With Emerging Brazilian Natalia Silva On Saturday at UFC 292
Standing in the center of the Octagon in March, Andrea Lee was confident she had done enough to get the nod in her close, competitive battle with Maycee Barber. After announcing a 29-28 score for each competitor, Bruce Buffer read the final tally aloud, “… 30-27 for your winner by split decision…”
Lee’s head dropped and she cursed under her breath before congratulating Barber; another quality effort reduced to a tick in the loss column and another split decision verdict that didn’t go her way.
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“In my opinion, I do think I did enough and I should have gotten my hand raised that night — I still feel like I was robbed, but that does happen when you leave it in the judges hands,” Lee said on Monday as she readied to decamp for Boston, where she takes on Natalia Silva in a fascinating flyweight matchup early on the UFC 292 fight card.
Landing on the disappointing side of a split decision loss has to be one of the most frustrating feelings in the sport, and it’s a spot Lee has been in multiple times in her UFC career.
Heading into this weekend’s bout with Silva, the 34-year-old Louisiana resident is 5-5 under the UFC banner, with each of her setbacks coming on the scorecards, and three of them being split decisions. If one judge saw one round differently in any of those contests, Lee is in a totally different position, both in terms of the rankings and how fans and media view her in relation to Silva and the division as a whole.
It’s easy to say, “don’t leave it in the hands of the judges,” but finishing fights when competing at this level is difficult, and becomes increasingly more challenging the further up the divisional ladder you climb.
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As such, fighters like Lee endeavor to separate their performance from the result, making sure to acknowledge and build on what they did well and tighten up the areas where improvements could still potentially be made.
“Because I felt so good about my performance, I was able to take away all the good things that I did, and I was able to take away the things that I didn’t do that maybe I should have capitalized on or I could have done more of, which maybe would have gotten me the win and the judges’ decision,” Lee said, reflecting on the bout with Barber.
“I believe I did a lot of great things in that fight. Everybody thought that Maycee was going to go in there and do to me what I did to her. They thought she was going to go in there, take me down, grind me out, control me, push me up against the cage; she did none of that and I did all of that, and I think people were maybe surprised by that.
“I feel like my strength was there; I felt much stronger than Maycee,” she added. “I just didn’t get as aggressive as I should have on the ground.”
A second straight defeat and another instance where victory was within reach has Lee reflecting on how she can get things moving in the right direction again as she ventures to “The City on a Hill” this weekend.
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For the Top 15 stalwart, seeking a path forward has her looking to her past, as Lee wants to tap into the aggressiveness and attacking style that highlighted the early days of her career competing inside the Invicta FC cage.
“I was always going for the finish,” she said, explaining the differences between her fights with the all-female promotion and her last several outings inside the Octagon. “In every single round, I was trying to finish my opponent, and I’ve kind of gotten away from that.
“I feel like I’ve been taking less risks and I took more risks in Invicta — I was more willing to take risks and just get in there and do my thing, not worry about fighting their fight. I made them fight my fight, and that’s what I’m talking about getting back to.
“I really enjoyed it, and you could tell in those performances I was having a good time.”
UFC fans have seen glimpses of that version of Lee during her time on the biggest stage in the sport, most recently in her second-round stoppage win over Cynthia Calvillo.
That evening, Lee was on her jab right out of the chute, working at a steady clip and utilizing her long reach to frustrate and stymie Calvillo’s advances. While she ate some shots in return, her ability to steer clear of grappling entanglements and constantly connect with heavier blows wore down Calvillo, and when Lee recognized she had her hurt to the body early in the second round, she cranked up the intensity, her confidence growing with each thudding connection.
After running close in the opening round, Lee grabbed control in the second, and Calvillo could not answer the call to begin the third.
“I’ve had good fights in the UFC, but I also feel like I might also be holding back a lot, too, and I don’t want to do that anymore,” offered Lee, who sits at No. 13 in the rankings ahead of this weekend’s contest. "I don’t want to keep playing it safe and just getting by.
“There is a lot on the line — there is a lot more money on the line, you have to worry about getting cut from the UFC.
“This is it!” she added, her volume spiking a little as her intensity levels rose. “I want to go out there and do the very best that I can, and I wanna get the win, no matter what.
“There was a difference in my performances between Invicta Andrea and the Andrea you’ve been seeing, and I want to bring that back.”
Lee had a first-hand look at Silva in her last outing, cornering her friend and training partner Victoria Leonardo in June when she faced the surging Brazilian.
While there wasn’t a great deal for the veteran to glean from the performance, Lee is acutely aware of the skills Silva brings with her to the Octagon this weekend and knows that getting her hand raised isn’t going to be an easy feat to accomplish.
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“I know my opponent is good and she’s gonna bring it. She’s hungry and I’m still hungry, so I think it’s gonna be a good fight,” Lee said when asked about the pairing with Silva, who has earned victories in each of her three UFC appearances and finishes in each of her last two outings. “She’s a really skilled striker, she moves a lot, and she’s also really good on the ground, too.
“I’m confident going into this fight, but I’m also not going to underestimate her in any way whatsoever,” she added. “She’s up and coming, she’s really skilled, she’s had beautiful finishes, and I just know that whatever I do, I can’t leave it in the judges’ hands.”
Lee has moved on from the fight with Barber, dedicating her entire focus towards Silva and this weekend’s meeting at UFC 292, but the sting of the defeat lingers, as she enters on a two-fight skid, aiming to defend her place in the rankings and right the ship.
It’s a tough matchup — they all are — but that’s what will make getting back to her old attacking ways and garnering a victory on Saturday night all the more satisfying.
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“Hoo, man,” Lee said, leaning back in her chair and exhaling as she sought the words to explain what a victory would mean, her initial reaction saying it all.
“I can see it in my head. I have this vision that I keep playing over and over in my head: I want to get out there, have a great performance, get my hand raised, and then let it all out in the cage.”
UFC 292: Sterling vs O'Malley took place live from TD Garden in Boston on August 19, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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