ONE Fight Night 4: Christian Lee opens up on welterweight transformation ahead of title fight

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Singapore, November 15: ONE World Lightweight Champion Christian Lee has opened up on his transformation to welterweight ahead of his title matchup this weekend at ONE Fight Night 4: Abbasov vs. Lee.

"The Warrior" Lee, who is no stranger to adjusting weight for a fight, moves up to challenge ONE Welterweight World Champion Kiamrian Abbasov in the main event on November 19 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Lee, who has a chance to become a double champion in the ONE Championship, thinks the time is right to step out of his division and go for two-division glory.

"I believe it's about two years since [Abbasov] defended the welterweight title. I've been actively clearing out the lightweight division. So right now, there is no clear contender, and with there being no fight in the lightweight or welterweight division, it only makes sense to put the two champions together," Lee said.

Moving up a weight class isn't easy for most professional mixed martial artists, as striking a balance between size, speed, power, and cardio is tricky at best.

But Lee is no ordinary athlete, and he is confident he'll display all the same assets at welterweight that he has at lightweight.

"Going into this fight, I feel that my cardio is better than it's ever been. I truly feel like I'm in the best shape that I've been in so far. I think it's easy to make the mistake when you're moving up a weight division. To just simply put on the size, to put on the extra weight, and then to neglect the cardio," he said.

"I took some time to put on extra weight so that when I did step up the training, and when I did start doing my cardio, I would be able to be in the same shape I was fighting for the lightweight title as I'm going to be for the welterweight title."

Lee made his professional debut as a fresh-faced 17-year-old featherweight at ONE: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS back in 2015.

He moved to lightweight in 2019 and won the divisional crown for the first time in his debut. Though dominant in the weight class since then, the 24-year-old superstar says he is only now used to fighting at 170 pounds.

"When I started my career, I was 17 years old. I was doing a water cut to 145 pounds. So, it was a fairly easy water cut. And then when they brought in the hydration system, I was dieting down to 155 pounds. And I feel like that was my natural division for some time. But after just a few months of training, it was getting harder," Lee explained.

"So, by the time I made the move to the lightweight division, I feel like I was already growing out of the featherweight division. It was already getting a lot harder to make the weight. And then it took a little bit of time to let my body fully adjust to the lightweight division.

"In the beginning, I feel that I was a bit small for the division, being used to fighting at 155 and then making the move to 170. But now, I feel like I'm in a really good size for the lightweight division. It definitely feels like my natural division right now."

As for the move up to welterweight, the Singaporean-American superstar is unfazed by the weight increase. Having moved up a division already, he isn't overthinking his initial approach.

That said, "The Warrior" knows he will have to be more scientific if he has to defend a second strap at some point.

"But moving up to welterweight, I'm just going to take the same approach that I did when I moved up from featherweight to lightweight. I'm not focused on my size; I'm not focused on how big or small I'm going to be in that division," he said.

"I'm just going to go in there in the best shape possible and take a shot at the title. And then when I claim the title, that's when I take the time to fully make the switch and adjust my weight and adjust my training to be comfortable fighting at 185."

Source: Media Release