ONE Fight Night 4: Kiamrian Abbasov plans hostile welterweight welcome for Christian Lee

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Singapore, November 15: ONE Welterweight World Champion Kiamrian Abbasov has planned for a hostile welcome to the 185 pounds division for ONE Lightweight World Champion Christian Lee at ONE Fight Night 4: Abbasov vs. Lee on November 19.

Abbasov isn't convinced by lightweight kingpin's Lee's efforts to bulk up to challenge him for his World Title when the two titleholders meet in the main event of this Saturday's event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium with Lee hoping to score two-division glory.

But the welterweight king foresees a rude welcome to the division for the Singaporean-American superstar, and he plans to offer his rival some advice during the showdown.

"A lot of things will go off plan for him. Naturally, he will complain to his dad or coach, 'Coach, big problem. Kiamrian Abbasov is a big problem. Please, stop the fight. Stop the fight,'" Abbsaov said.

"When the cage is closed, neither media nor his family will help him. It will be only [me and him], with all his big problems, because of his desire to move up to my division.
"I will whisper to his ear during the fight: 'Stay in your lightweight division.'"

Abbasov moved up to middleweight for his own chance at champ-champ status in February, coming up short against reigning two-division king Reinier de Ridder.

But with that experience under his belt, coupled with his hefty training partners, Abbasov believes that Lee will fail to offer an adequate challenge for him.

"It doesn't matter whether [Lee is] smaller or bigger. I always try to train with strong opponents in the gym to be ready for any outcome in the fight. Because he may be smaller in weight but physically stronger," he said.

"Sometimes there's a solid guy, you look at him, and he is so heavy, heavyweight, but he is physically weak, so I work with physically strong opponents in the gym to be ready for anything."

Lee is one of the most dominant and skillful fighters on the ONE roster today. He has finished all but one of his 16 ONE Championship wins inside the distance, taking out some of the biggest stars in the lightweight division in the process.

Abbasov isn't fazed by this, however, as he is sure that he possesses all the physical attributes to match Lee's aggression and pace.

"How will I deal with his speed and explosive technique? Well, I'll tell him I'm not a slow guy, either. He will have to reach me first. So, I work at all aspects, whether it's speed, power, or quickness. So, I don't consider it an issue that he's fast or something," Abbasov said.

"If he moved up two divisions, then we could talk about his speed, but our weight difference is not that big, so I don't think it will pose a problem."

If speed was, in fact, Lee's biggest asset in the past, Abbasov believes that it may be eroded by the step up in weight for their upcoming showdown. After all, according to the World Champion, welterweight is a different ball game altogether.

"He might face issues after he gains weight and will no longer be an explosive fighter. I think he has a lot of work to do in terms of physique and to try and overcome me physically. This is a different weight category with very different rules," Abbasov said.

Source: Media Release