Christian Lee says a mixed rules fight between him and ANY elite striker "would not be close"

Christian Lee is one of the deadliest finishers in the lightweight division. The Hawaiian has showcased his prowess on the feet throughout his ONE Championship career and ten of his fifteen wins inside the circle have come by way of knockout.

'The Warrior' is also a great grappler and boasts four wins by submission. He'll rematch Ok Rae Yoon for the ONE Lightweight World title on August 26 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Custom rules matchups are a popular topic in ONE at present after Demetrious Johnson's historic clash with ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang at ONE X in March.

In the lead-up to the fight, the Singaporean-American superstar was asked to share his thoughts on a potential mixed rules bout. The Evolve MMA fighter told Sportskeeda:

"With all respect to the striking arts, I do feel like a mixed rules fight would not even be close with top ranks, you know, a lightweight fighter like myself against a top-ranked lightweight striker."

Christian Lee further added:

"In the first round, it's going to be hard to get a knockout within the first round. And then the second round, as soon as it goes to mixed rules... there's no way they can make up for the time trained in the wrestling, and in the grappling ...no way that they're going to make up for it. We saw that against DJ and Rodtang...So that's the same way I see it happening for any of the top top-ranked strikers out there against any top-ranked MMA fighters."

The former ONE Lightweight World Champion has won numerous grappling tournaments as a teenager.

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Christian Lee agrees about his rivalry with Ok Rae Yoon

The 24-year-old Lee is intent on getting an early stoppage against champion Yoon after what he deemed to be a robbery by the judges in their first encounter. But if their rematch goes the distance, there is a high probability for a trilogy bout.

Either way, the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix winner Lee acknowledges that his opponent is here to stay.

"Yeah, you know, it potentially could be [an ongoing rivalry]. I believe that I'm going to go in there and finish him in this fight. This will make us 1-1, and I think that after he loses this fight, he'll remain in the top five of this division for quite a while.'

Fighting in the promotion since he was 17, Christian Lee is both a star and a fan favorite in ONE Championship.

Meanwhile, OK Rae Yoon is building his own name. After becoming ONE Championship's 2021 Male Fighter of the Year in the aftermath of beating Marat Gafurov, Eddie Alvarez and then Christian Lee last year, the 31-year-old will be looking to cement his own legacy come fight night.