Not many people fancy stepping into the cage with Justin Gaethje, but when Kevin Lee heard a challenge, he didn’t take long to say okay.

The former UFC interim lightweight title challenger was responding to comments made by Gaethje yesterday, where Gaethje spoke to MMAFighting to state that Lee “doesn’t know what respect is,” and that “I’ll never show him respect again … I just like punching loudmouths in the face.”

According to Lee, he believes a win over Gaethje would put him right back up near the title, and as such is willing to accept any challenge from the man with two fight of the year contenders.

“I think that’s the best thing about 155[pounds] — is that there’s so many options,” Lee said, speaking on SiriusXM. “The division is wide open right. I dunno, we’ll see. I’m taking some time, I’m changing my whole style. I’m changing up my whole team around me, there’s been a lot of things happening this last year unfortunately that I’ve had to make changes [because of]. But it’s a new year, it’s a new start, when I come back the folks are going to see a new me.

“If it’s going to be against Justin, I like easy money. Justin likes to take a lot of damage. I like to give a lot of damage. It seems like a good matchup to me. But I’m trying to look out for Justin’s health here. He needs some time too. The man has taken a lot of beatings over the last couple months, I don’t think he wants another one right here right now.

“If he does, then so be it.”

.@MoTownPhenom responds to @Justin_Gaethje's callout: "I like easy money. Justin likes to take a lot of damage. I like to give a lot of damage. It seems like a good matchup to me." @MieshaTate @realOCsports pic.twitter.com/5Y1z1DVgdd

— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) January 4, 2018

Gaethje had said yesterday that he’s looking to take some time off after a particularly heavy knockout blow by Eddie Alvarez, and pointed to a Summer time return.