Report: Oklahoma commission denies Chiesa's appeal of submission loss to Lee

Michael Chiesa will have to find another way to put his latest defeat behind him.

The Oklahoma State Athletic Commission has denied Chiesa's appeal of his first-round submission loss to Kevin Lee at UFC Fight Night 112 in Oklahoma City, his manager Daniel Rubenstein told MMAjunkie's John Morgan on Thursday.

The "TUF 15" winner faced Lee in the June card's main event, where his foe had him trapped in a rear-naked choke late in Round 1. After working to fight Lee's hands, Chiesa abandoned his efforts, his sudden lack of intelligent defense prompting referee Mario Yamasaki to waive the fight off at the 4:37 mark - much to Chiesa's outrage.

The lightweight contender never tapped to the chokehold and later claimed he'd chosen to gut out the remainder of the round while trapped in the submission. He filed the ill-fated appeal mere days after the fight.

The upheld result snaps Chiesa's three-fight win streak and preserves Lee's fifth straight victory. The 29-year-old called for a December rematch in Lee's native Detroit moments after the controversial stoppage, although he now has himself a new taker in Dustin Poirier, who recently saw his own designs on a rematch with Eddie Alvarez go up in smoke when Alvarez was tapped to coach "TUF 26" opposite Justin Gaethje.