Don’t anticipate two-division ONE world champion Christian Lee to hop aboard the Halil Amir hype prepare anytime quickly.
After decimating Kiamrian Abbasov in his final outing, the ONE light-weight and welterweight world titleholder is predicted to return to the 170-pound division to defend his throne.
Christian Lee, nevertheless, has refuted Amir’s declare as a prime contender, declaring that he solely has one struggle beneath the promotion.
The 28-year-old heavy-hitter rose to No.4 within the ONE light-weight rankings after viciously knocking out former world title challenger Timofey Nastyukhin at ONE on Prime Video 2 final September.
Whereas Lee was admittedly impressed by Amir’s efficiency and insane KO energy, he believes the Turkish slugger should face different contenders within the prime 5 to solidify his case for a world title shot.
‘The Warrior’ instructed ONE Championship in an unique interview:
“I believe that he did an ideal job going into the scene knocking out Timofey [Nastyukhin], however you recognize we’ve seen him struggle one time, very spectacular efficiency. I believe that now he’s within the prime 5, it could be good to see him a bit bit extra lively and see him struggle not less than yet one more man within the prime 5 earlier than he will get a title shot.”
Christian Lee, after all, is keen to struggle anybody at any given time, so it’s not stunning to see him scoff at fighters who’re inactive.
Earlier, the United MMA and Evolve MMA product additionally addressed a potential rematch with No.1-ranked light-weight fighter Dagi Arslanaliev, on the situation that he fights somebody from the highest 5 first.
In the meantime, most followers and pundits alike would like to see a potential world title eliminator showdown between Amir and Arslanaliev to find out who will get a crack at Lee.
Christian Lee plans to return to light-weight for his first world title protection of the yr
Contemplating there’s no clear-cut contender at welterweight in the meanwhile, it appears that evidently all indicators level to Christian Lee dropping again right down to light-weight for his subsequent struggle.
In spite of everything, it was truly the 24-year-old famous person’s to chop weight first and carry out his duties as a dual-world champion all alongside.
In a separate interview with ONE Championship, Lee bared his need to welcome all challengers for his 170-pound gold strap to start the brand new yr.
“The order that I’m going to defend my belts, I really feel is gonna be crucial as a result of I plan to defend the belt at light-weight first.”
Lee continued:
“Proper now I would like to organize, I have to work my weight right down to the light-weight division, but it surely’s nonetheless very doable. I really feel that once I put together to defend my belt on the welterweight division, it’s gonna be totally different.”