Even without a stern look, the UFC middleweight division appears to be pretty stacked. At present, Khamzat Chimaev sits at the top with the 185 lbs belt around his waist. And the contenders? It’s basically a killer’s row with Sean Strickland, Nassourdine Imavov, and Dricus du Plessis lined up to chase ‘Borz’. Still, the UFC decided to sign a South Korean prospect to an already hot division, and the fans aren’t too thrilled about it.

Bringing a new addition in the middleweight division, Dana White and Co. signed South Korean fighter Yi Sak Lee, who’s going to be making his debut at the UFC Macau event, which is scheduled for May 30th.

“🚨NEW UFC FIGHTER🚨 The UFC has signed MW 🇰🇷Yi Sak Lee (8-1),” The Matchmaker posted on X, “His team, Korean Top Team, announced the news on their YouTube channel. They also confirmed that Lee was signed directly to the UFC, without going through Road to UFC, and would debut at #UFCMacau.”

For the unversed, Lee is one of the well-known fighters from South Korea’s regional scene and has a solid 8-1 overall record. Although he didn’t win any championship, the 26-year-old has seven finishes under his belt and has only gone to a decision once. Well, that sounds like an impressive record, right? So what made the fans mad about this signing? It’s actually about the opponents he has faced so far, which paints a questionable picture, not of his credibility, but of his current experience.

If we look at his personal record, Lee’s last fight was against Daichi Mikami, who has a 5-3-0 record. Before that, the South Korean fought Weichao Nie, who holds a 2-5-0 record. For a UFC fighter, not facing opponents of at least a similar caliber in the previous promotion could prove to be detrimental. Moreover, that thought becomes even more prevalent when we look at the sole loss of Lee’s career, which came against Agilan Thaniagasalam, whose record stood at 15-10, a much more experienced opponent.

Now imagine the South Korean facing middleweight rising stars like Ateba Gautier, Bo Nickal, and Christian Leroy Duncan. It would take a lot of hard work and some intelligent matchmaking to move forward. Because of that level of competition, fans seem to have low expectations as Lee sets his sights on an ambitious UFC debut.

Fans react to UFC signing a Korean prospect in the middleweight division

One fan quickly chimed in and wrote, “Lee is a ★☆☆☆☆ prospect for what it’s worth. As we saw in the past year and a half, the UFC is content to hire bodies at middleweight, without the need for them to be highly skilled. Lee falls into that category.” Following that comment, another user wrote, “Very low expectations on him tbh.”

Well, Lee’s overall record and his lack of experience fighting credible opponents do raise some questions about this signing. However, fans also gave the UFC some backlash for signing Jailton Almeida’s teammate, mentioning similar problems. That said, the South Korean fighter could have been a good addition to the light heavyweight division instead, but fans seem confused about his fighting style.

A fan wrote, “What is he? Striking guy, submission guy? Wrestling guy?” To be fair, as a 26-year-old, Lee has a decent skill set, as he has amassed seven finishes, with a good balance of four knockouts and three submissions. So he’s definitely capable in both areas. But the question is: Can he maintain that same ferocity against 185 lbs fighters? We’ll find out soon enough.

However, amid the UFC’s controversial signing, another user had another fighter in mind for the promotion to try out at the Macau event, “Hope they sign Regezhen for Macau.” Regezhen is a Chinese MMA prospect who is also promising. But again, he has a similar opponent-quality issue just like Lee.

Lastly, a fan has already predicted which fighter the UFC might put him against, “Early prediction on his opponent is another debutante. I’m going to guess he fights Luis Felipe Dias from DWCS last year.” If that’s the case, things could become interesting, as Felipe Dias won on DWCS last year with a second-round submission, so the clash would certainly be intriguing.

That said, what do you think about the UFC signing Yi Sak Lee? Do you think he would make it big in the UFC? Let us know in the comments section below.