While fans of combat sports will always be driven towards the biggest and best companies, that attention is often retained by the anticipation and hype created by promoters.
UFC boss Dana White is arguably the best MMA promoter in the business and has been one of the driving forces behind the UFC’s meteoric rise over the last twenty years. The UFC currently sits at a valuation of $11.3 billion and continues to attract MMA’s biggest talents.
However, the good health of the UFC doesn’t necessarily stretch to include the remainder of the MMA landscape. While White continues to assert that he is the industry’s premier promoter, he has on more than one occasion expressed his disapproval of other companies’ approaches to fight promotion.
It is an aspect of the industry that former UFC fighter Kevin Lee agrees with. And one that frustrates him. Speaking with RJ Clifford on MMA Today, Lee voiced his concerns for the MMA landscape overall.
“A lot of these promoters are not very good,” assessed Lee. “A lot of people that they hire aren’t just very good. They’re not smart people and I think they look at us and think, ‘Oh, we’re just fighters, we get hit in the head. What do you know? Just shut up and fight.'”
“The way the MMA landscape is right now, a lot of these promoters are not very good.”@MoTownPhenom on the state of the MMA promotion landscape in 2025
Source: MMA Today w/@RJcliffordMMA pic.twitter.com/IPqSsG6YmS
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) June 2, 2025
Lee, now 32, competed in the UFC from 2014 to 2021, before returning to the promotion for one fight in 2023. He concluded his UFC career with a mixed record of 11-8.
Known as ‘The Motown Phenom’, Lee’s charisma and trash-talking ability gained him a strong fanbase that remained even when his performances began to decline.
Some analysts argue that his fan popularity helped him extend his tenure in the UFC, which in itself underlines the importance of good promotion in the industry.
‘Dana is the best promoter around’
Lee last stepped into the Octagon in the summer of 2023, but his release from the promotion hasn’t soured his positive opinions of UFC boss White.
“I’ll give credit to Dana. Dana’s probably the best promoter of our lifetime that we have. And you see him do things outside the box. You see him get these YouTubers, and get these streamers, and do stuff that other people wouldn’t necessarily risk. But you see the risks pay off.
“Some of these promoters, I look at what they do and I look at how they have things set up and what they’re trying to do. It doesn’t make much sense.”
Regarding his own career, Lee expressed a desire to build a strong team around him, including a top promoter to help him take advantage of his remaining peak years.
His last fight, a victory over Thiago Oliveira at Lights Out Championship last September, returned Lee to winning ways. But currently, Lee is suing the now-defunct Global Fight League for extortion and defamation.
However, he will return to MMA with the Professional Fighters League in just over two weeks. Lee is set to debut for the promotion on June 20th against 2024 PFL Lightweight Champion Gadzhi Rabadanov.
It will be a very tough start to life at PFL, but it could prove a massive coup if Lee can secure an upset.
