Spencer Lee opens up on NCAA seminfals loss, criticism of missing out on fourth NCAA title

Spencer Lee gave his first thoughts on his historic NCAA Wrestling semifinals loss to Purdue’s Matt Ramos. 

Lee was criticized for missing out on his fourth NCAA title for Iowa after he lost, considering he medically forfeited down to sixth place. The Hawkeyes three-time national champion had a history of knee injuries, including winning the 2021 NCAA title with no ACLs.

In a wide ranging interview with Barstool Wrestling, Lee opened up on the most shocking loss of his career.

“I saw people say that I lost because I was hurt,” Lee said. “And that’s just not true. I mean, I got beat. There’s no if ands or buts. That’s just the sport. I hate when people try and make excuses for me why I lost when I got out wrestled and be right and positionally right. So like, they’re, they’re taking away credit from someone who deserves credit. You know, what I want to say to people is, instead of hating on me for maybe medically forfeiting, why not just go give love to Matt Ramos for beating me?

“The kid, you know, obviously, deserves the praise of him making the NCAA finals … and people are just too busy finding ways to shut it down and not give him credit. I think that’s unfair to him. You know, I’m cool with him. I mean, when he threw me in our dual meet, I hugged him after that match and he hugged me and he was like, ‘dude, I appreciate you, been watching forever, big fan.’ I was like ‘You’re a beast, man. I respect you.’”

Lee did not attempt to wrestle back for third place, a decision many criticized Iowa and Lee for at the end of the tournament.

“I got called a quitter,” Lee said. “A lot of people said that I’m not a role model … I saw someone say something to me that they’re really glad that I did forfeit because now their son can see the difference between winners and quitters and stuff like that, right? And I just smile and I go, man, you know, the thing is, maybe one day I’ll regret it. I don’t know. 

“I don’t regret it now because I’m trying to get ready for what’s next and compete. Like I said, I’m not healthy. I’m trying to get healthy the best I can do. That’s all you can do. And it’s not an excuse. Like I said, I’ve wrestled fine all year. It’s just hard though, you know, hearing all that stuff and all the hate just because I didn’t wrestle two matches.”

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Lee finished as a three-time national champion for Iowa and had a 98-6 career record.