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Pickett advises Lee: Stay exciting if you don't want to get cut

Number one British bantamweight Brad Pickett has offered his advice to fellow Brit Vaughan Lee ahead of his fight against Raphael Assunção this weekend.

The UFC are in the middle of slimming down the size of their rosters, due to an influx of fighters from Strikeforce.

A numbers of fighters who are deemed to be 'boring' are being cut from the organisation to try and ensure exciting fights. The biggest casualty so far has been former welterweight title contender, Jon Fitch, who was cut after losing to Demian Maia.

UFC president, Dana White, has often been critical of fighters who don't look to finish fights, but merely grind-out a decision win. This is something Pickett, who has won four post-fight UFC bonuses for exciting fights, told the ESPN UFC Podcast Lee should focus on.

"To be honest, my advice to him would be just to go out there and try not to worry too much about the outcome and concentrate on your performance. If you perform really well and lose to the better guy and you put on a good show, the UFC will still look after you. It's the people who go out there who don't perform and get beat will get sent on their way or even if they don't perform very well and win and they're in boring fights you know they're one loss away from getting cut."

Lee is currently 2-2 in his UFC career, coming off a dominant decision win over Motonobu Tezuka in February. He does hold one post-fight award, after he became the first person to submit Norifumi Yamamoto at UFC 144 in February last year . Pickett, who has picked up two bonuses in defeat, acknowledged that getting 'the W' is not the be-all and end-all in the UFC.

"It's not just the winning but it's the entertainment business. So Vaughan's going to have to go out there and try and keep the fight exciting as well and I believe that he does have that style as well? So he'll make sure he doesn't finish, keep a tight defence to start off with so he doesn't finish early and that but you know, definitely keep it exciting."

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