Christian Lee feels “extremely grateful" for ONE Welterweight title opportunity

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Singapore, November 3: ONE Lightweight World Champion Christian Lee is preparing for an attempt to claim a second belt on November 19 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Lee is scheduled to take on reigning ONE Welterweight World Champion Kiamrian Abbasov in the main event of ONE Fight Night 4: Abbasov vs. Lee.

"The Warrior," fresh from reclaiming his title in a rematch against Ok Rae Yoon at ONE 160 in August, had originally fancied some time off. However, the lure of adding a second belt to his collection proved he wasn't ready for a break.

"Well, initially, after claiming my title back, it sounded really nice to take some time off. But an opportunity like this is really just too big of a moment to let it just pass me by. And fighting for a second World Title, and a second weight division, has always been a dream of mine since I started this sport," Lee said.

Few fighters in ONE Championship history have managed to win two titles, and Lee will attempt to do so in his very first welterweight outing. Because of that, the 24-year-old is well aware of the enormity of the task before him.

"I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to be fighting for the welterweight title. I'm sure there are other organizations who would want the champion to go and get a few fights in the welterweight division before going for a title. But I also feel like everything lined up well to make this super-fight happen."

ONE Welterweight World Champion Abbasov recently attempted to claim a second belt of his own. "Brazen" came up short against ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion Reinier de Ridder at ONE: FULL CIRCLE this past February.

Prior to his run at De Ridder's middleweight strap, Abbasov was on a five-fight winning streak and had established himself as ONE's premier welterweight. So, Lee respects the dangers his 29-year-old Kyrgyzstani foe presents.

"I think Abbasov's greatest strength is the fact that he's a well-rounded martial artist. He's a very durable fighter. He's got good cardio. I feel that he's able to mix up his striking and his wrestling quite well, which is why he is the champion," Lee said.

"So yeah, it's definitely not going to be an easy fight for me, it's not an easy fight for anybody. And I'm training really hard to make sure that I'm prepared for everything that Abbasov is going to bring to the table."

Despite all of that, the ever-confident Lee predicts that the fight will not go the distance and the ONE Welterweight World Title will adorn his shoulder alongside the lightweight belt when all is said and done.

"Of course, my goal is always to finish my opponents in the first round," Lee said. "But technically speaking, giving Abbasov credit, how tough he is, I think that I'm going to end up wearing him down and submitting him in the third round."

Source: Media Release