Remaining ONE lightweight and welterweight world champion Christian Lee has followed Ken Lee’s advice since he was a boy. The trust and loyalty he had for his old man paid off, as ‘Warrior’ kept his father’s advice in mind to become a two-division ONE world champion.
The 24-year-old made his name in the record books after handing Kiamrian Abbasov his first career TKO loss during ONE’s main event on Prime Video 4 last week.
Christian Lee’s road to greatness certainly not easy. In fact, it looks like the Singaporean-American will return empty-handed after the Kyrgyz Russian nearly knocked him out in the first round. The dazed Lee soon went into survival mode after absorbing what could easily have been the end-of-battle shots from ‘Brazen’.
However, the United MMA and Evolve MMA superstar weathered the fierce storm and returned with vengeance in the ensuing rounds. He turned the tables by grappling with the Greco-Roman wrestler and punishing him with some brutal smashes and smashes. After asserting his grappling superiority against Abbasov, Christian Lee found himself fully fit in the fourth round and it looked like he was setting up a triangle wrist squeeze.
However, ‘The Warrior’ had a change of heart and continued to throw a series of punches that caused the referee to eventually intervene and stop the match.
According to Lee, he just followed his father’s advice to bail out submissiveness and instead go to the ground and slam. Lee revealed this in his ONE post-match interview on Prime Video 4:
“My corner includes my dad, my brother, Adrian and Shakur. I can’t tell you [what my corner told me]. The fight is a blur and it really just happened. But I can tell you that a very important moment in the fight happened in the fourth round when the ending was there. I was looking for the arm triangle, as you can see if you hit back, I heard my dad shouting to give it up and move towards the finish line. That’s what I did. And the ending happened. I have the best corner in the world.
Christian Lee says his strong support system made him a champion
Christian Lee is alone when the circular door closes, but he has his whole family watching his every move. The Lee family once again went all out for what is arguably the greatest night of his MMA career.
In addition to Ken Lee, his mother, Jewelz Lee, also cheered loudly along with Christian’s sister and ONE world champion Angela Lee and daughter Ava. His brother-in-law, Bruno Pucci also accompanied him as he also fought at ONE 163.
Christian Lee’s wife, Katie, and daughter Alia, were also there to give him much-needed inspiration. And of course, there’s the youngest Adrian, who graciously carried his heavyweight world championship belt after the match.
In the same interview, Lee thanks for his strong support system to make this feat possible:
“I wouldn’t be anywhere without a support system around me. I’m so grateful.”
Watch Christian Lee’s full post-match interview below:
