“Becoming a father has lit a fire in me” - Christian Lee draws inspiration from being a dad

Leading up to the ONE 160 fight event headlined by Christian Lee and Ok Rae Yoon for the ONE lightweight world title, one of the co-main event fighters made some interesting comments.

The young Chinese fighter Tang Kai challenged Thanh Le for the featherweight throne. In the leadup to the bout, Tang said that his 37-year-old opponent had likely lost focus in fighting due to becoming a father.

Newly crowned lightweight king, Lee, who TKO'd Ok at ONE 160, said that this is highly unlikely as he has found so much motivation since becoming a father. In an interview with ONE, 'The Warrior' explained:

"I think that whatever Tang Kai said about Thanh Le being soft because he's a dad now, I don't think that's true. You know, I saw him here with his family on fight week, as well. And I don't think that has anything to do with anyone's performance."

In May 2021, Christian Lee became a father and he claims it has lit a fire in him, not distracted him:

"For me personally, becoming a father has lit a fire in me that I never had before. Initially, I started fighting because I love to fight. I love to get in there and fight people. But now, my daughter gives me a real purpose, to go in there and do what I love and make a living for my family. So she's made me a better fighter, absolutely."

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Christian Lee talks about his performance at ONE 160

At ONE 160, 'The Warrior' Christian Lee was able to avenge his loss last year to the South Korean fighter with an impressive TKO stoppage in round two.

After the ONE Championship star was crowned, he said in his post-fight interview:

"This is my performance at 100%. Ok Rae Yoon is without a doubt one of the top lightweight fighters in the world. So respect to him. But I knew this is how it's gonna go down tonight. I knew that the training and hard work that I put in was going to be enough to get it done."

For his stunning TKO performance, which also resulted in him winning the ONE lightweight world championship, Christian Lee was awarded a $50,000 performance bonus from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.