On the surface, it might not look like much has changed for Kevin Lee over the past year.
At the end of 2017, Lee was highly ranked at lightweight, but clearly a step behind Tony Ferguson for a title shot. He was calling out the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov every chance he got, while also campaigning for UFC to add a 165-pound weight class.
Now, here we are in late 2018, and all of that remains true.
But Lee (17-3), who meets Al Iaquinta at UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Milwaukee, doesn't see 2018 as a stagnant year. Not by a long shot. And if this weekend goes even slightly how Lee envisions, there's still time to gain some serious ground.
"The second half of last year was really rough for me," Lee said. "This year, I've stayed silent a lot. I haven't done a whole lot of media. So, when this fight happens, it's going to open up a lot of people's eyes. People are overlooking this as a No. 1 contender fight.
"Yeah, Tony is still ahead of me. I'll give him that. He deserves to fight Khabib. But once I smoke Al, the next logical fight will be the winner of Khabib and Tony."
Whether Nurmagomedov's next fight is against Ferguson or not, remains to be seen. The Dagestani champion is still facing a potential suspension for his role in the UFC 229 brawl in October, and been linked in headlines to a McGregor rematch or even a crossover fight with retired boxer Floyd Mayweather.
Lee, who fights out of Las Vegas, is confident neither of those will ultimately happen, and the lightweight division will actually move forward in 2019.
"I feel like we need to get away from the b---s---, everyone," Lee said. "You have to preserve the integrity of the sport at some point. Everybody needs to be talking about the Khabib-Tony fight -- no Conor rematch. Let's be real, nobody would even buy that rematch. Everything is shortsighted right now. Max Holloway wins a fight, and everybody wants to see him in a super fight. How many super fights have we seen that don't even sell and at the end of the day, you just ruin two divisions?"
Ultimately, Lee knows a big part of his future relies on winning over the fan base, which he intends to do on Saturday. Iaquinta is responsible for one of Lee's three losses in the UFC, back in 2014.
Iaquinta, of Long Island, remembers Lee as a "young kid just trying to fit in" back then. Both have come a long way since.
If Lee is correct about the sport getting back to "a sport" -- more than entertainment -- in 2019, a win over Iaquinta will be massive to his title aspirations.
"The people are what drives this thing," Lee said. "I'm going to let the people decide. I said I would beat [Edson] Barboza worse than Khabib did, and I did. I'm saying I will beat Al worse than Khabib did. And if need be, I'll do the same thing with Conor. Either way, I'm making a beeline to the title."