Kevin Lee, a professional person mixed martial arts fighter, has said a major cistron in his decision to sign with a new promotion company was Bitcoin (BTC).

Co-ordinate to a written report from MMA news outlet BJ Penn, the Russia-based Eagle Fighting Championship will be paying Lee in BTC as office of a four-fight contract. The fighter has reportedly been a HODLer since before the 2022 bull run, after using some of the profits to live off of after paying for articulatio genus surgeries.

"To be paid in Bitcoin and not give me any pushback on it whatsoever, was huge in the decision [to sign with Hawkeye FC]," said Lee. "It gives me a lot more financial security and volition help me fight better, too."

Payments concerning the Hawkeye FC were not disclosed, only Lee has previously earned as much as $280,000 through his UFC fight with Tony Ferguson. In a December. 17 interview, Lee implied Eagle FC would pay more he made while under contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, significant a potential payout of 5.86 BTC or more at electric current prices.

Lee, too known as The Motown Phenom, was recently suspended from fighting for six months and fined after testing positive for Adderall. He was later released from his UFC contract before Hawkeye FC attempted to add him to their roster — his first fight with the company is expected to be against Diego Sanchez on Mar. 11.

UFC has been delving into the benefits of digital assets through partnerships with crypto and blockchain firms. In July, the organization inked a $175 million deal with Crypto.com for the adjacent ten years, an agreement that somewhen led to the release of UFC-licensed nonfungible tokens. In add-on, the fighting championship has previously partnered with blockchain rewards app Socios and tokenization platform Chiliz to release a fan token.

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Individual MMA fighters have been expressing interest in BTC and other tokens since Jon Fitch became the start professional fighter to exist paid in Bitcoin in 2022. Last year, former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez said he had purchased some BTC, while Ben Askren was paid to promote Litecoin (LTC) and supported the nigh recent BTC halving.