Christian Lee closely watching Saygid Izagakhmaev’s progress in ONE Championship

Now that Christian Lee has reclaimed his lightweight world title, he suspects Eagles MMA prospect Saygid Izagakhmaev could be the biggest threat in the division if he beats Shinya Aoki at ONE 163.

Christian Lee is en route to another world title matchup but in another weight class. He’s lined up to challenge reigning welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov on Friday, November 18, at ONE on Prime Video 4, for his first attempt at double gold.

Having cleaned out the lightweight division for over four years now, ‘The Warrior’ has put his lightweight run on pause to wait for the next runner-up to the world title. On his radar at the moment is No.4-ranked contender Saygid Izagakhmaev, who returns to the circle on Saturday, November 19, to face Shinya Aoki.

Based upon Izagakhmaev’s only two performances at ONE Championship, ‘The Warrior’ has mixed feelings about the Russian’s abilities to face someone at his level. Nevertheless, he’ll be keeping a close eye on him when he confronts Aoki this month.

He candidly told The MMA Super-Fan:

“His first fight he got a great win over James Nakashima that put the whole division on notice. Then we saw his next fight where he got a win. But a decision win was not as impressive and then now we’re going to see him go against Shinya.”

Watch the short clip below:

Izagakhmaev will face his biggest test when he fights legendary MMA fighter Shinya Aoki. The Japanese grappler has 47 career victories over a span of two decades, so if the Dagestani brawler doesn’t come out unscathed, Christian Lee won’t look twice in his direction.

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Christian Lee too involved in MMA and fatherhood to focus on social media

Christian Lee is looking forward to enjoying life without the noise of social media in the background. Between being a good father and juggling his MMA career full-time, Lee feels that stepping away from the internet will help him focus on the positive changes in his life.

He told SCMP MMA at the ONE 160 post-fight interview:

“I’m a dad now, I’m gonna run a gym full-time, I’m coaching at United MMA. I love teaching the next generation of young kids and adults martial arts and I’m constantly taking care of my one-year-old baby girl, she’s running all over the house. That’s a lot more fun to me than sitting on my phone. So, you won’t see me on social media much after either.”

Staying true to his word, Christian Lee seldom posts images or videos on Instagram or Facebook. But when he does, they’re usually posts about fight announcements or updates about his training camps.