Christian Lee grateful for support despite anti-climatic ending to Alibeg Rasulov tie: "I hope you guys enjoyed the first two rounds"

Things didn't go to plan for Christian Lee in his big return in the main event of ONE Fight Night 26.

The two-division MMA world champion had been out of action ever since he won the welterweight title in 2022. 'The Warrior' looked to put this behind him on Dec. 6 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, where he made his highly anticipated comeback.

In a lightweight world title defense against undefeated contender Alibeg Rasulov, things appeared to be going well for the kingpin.

Unfortunately, the fight abruptly ended in the second round when Rasulov suffered an unintentional eye poke that he couldn't continue from. This outcome was incredibly disappointing for both men involved in the main event, as well as for the fans that tuned in to support the two competitors.

Christian Lee made reference to this during his post-event press conference where he gave a final statement.

The double champ said that he's been feeling the love, and though the fight may have ended early, hopefully it was still enough to entertain all those who tuned in:

"I appreciate all the support from all the fans. And to everyone tuning in, I hope you guys enjoyed the first two rounds of the fight."

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Christian Lee will be ready to run it back after a short break

If this fight came at a different time, Christian Lee surely would have wanted to run it right back at the next possible date.

This isn't how things have played out for the Prodigy Training Center and Evolve MMA athlete, as ahead of this fight, he had already planned to take some time off due to the upcoming birth of his next child.

For now, he will turn his attention to his family before preparing to face off with Rasulov for the second time in the hopes of producing a decisive result the next time around.