Christian Lee feels he could've finished Kiamrian Abbasov in the first round

As a consequence of a loss or a win, it’s inevitable for any athlete to feel like they could’ve done things differently or better than before, and such is the case with Christian Lee.

The 24-year-old superstar began competition at the early age of 17 with one goal in mind: to become a multiple-time world champion. But along with the territory comes a certain perfectionism not foreign to high-performance athletes like Lee.

Speaking to ONE Championship about his last fight with the former welterweight king Kiamrian Abbasov, ‘The Warrior’ expressed regret for not achieving his desired outcome:

“Of course, looking back, I still feel like I could’ve done much better in that fight. I feel like if I was fighting at my full potential that night, I could’ve finished him in the first round, but I had that early knockdown by Abbasov that set me back a little bit.

"It turned the fight into a war, which I was prepared for anyway.”

Ironically, Abbasov was also looking for a quick knockout in the first round. The Dagestani fighter almost succeeded after throwing a good left hook to knock Lee down.

But ‘The Warrior’ remarkably survived the barrage of strikes in the final minutes and secured a takedown to shorten the gap.

His older sister, Angela Lee, came close to winning the women's strawweight belt after being dropped in the first round against Xiong Jing Nan at ONE on Prime Video 2.

Christian Lee, however, managed to secure the victory with a scintillating knockout by ground and pound in the fourth round. In one night, he secured the welterweight strap and became a historic double-world champion.

Re-watch the full free fight below:

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Christian Lee plans to make the welterweight division his “permanent” division

Looking into the future, Christian Lee hopes to compete in the welterweight division almost indefinitely.

As Lee mentioned above, he wasn’t satisfied with his overall performance, especially his cardio against Abbasov. He intends to integrate himself at 185 pounds to reach his full potential.

Speaking to SCMP MMA at the post-fight presser at ONE on Prime Video 4, he said:

“I feel like right now, today, I am big enough and strong enough to compete in the welterweight division. But I plan on making this my permanent division, and you guys will see a clear difference.”

Lee added:

“I’m definitely not leaving the lightweight division behind, but looking forward to the future, I only plan on moving up in weight.”