Christian Lee shares his thoughts on Saygid Izagakhmaev’s win over Shinya Aoki

Reigning ONE lightweight and middleweight world champion Christian Lee sits atop ONE Championship’s lightweight throne with authority, and from his vantage point, the Singaporean-American superstar can see upcoming challengers rising through the ranks.

One such challenger is Khabib Nurmagomedov's protege, Saygid Izagakhmaev, who recently scored a scintillating finish over Japanese legend Shinya ‘Tobikan Judan’ Aoki late last year. Izagakhmaev put together an impressive performance, and Lee was no doubt enamored by what he witnessed. However, Lee was hardly surprised with how things played out.

In a recent interview with ONE Championship, ‘The Warrior’ shared his thoughts on Izagakhmaev’s exciting showcase:

“That was a very interesting fight. Really good job on Saygid’s fight, it was a nice knockout. Unfortunately for Shinya, that’s the story of many of his fights. It’s either he gets a takedown, smothers guys on the ground, and submits them, or he gets caught on the feet standing up and that’s many of his losses played out.”

Christian Lee had an incredible 2022, and he will be looking to defend his lightweight and middleweight belts in the new year. The No.3-ranked lightweight contender, Izagakhmaev, has since emerged as a clear and possible challenger to the lightweight throne, and Lee is more than willing to meet him in the circle.

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Christian Lee vows to be much stronger in future welterweight fights

Christian Lee made his welterweight debut in 2022 at ONE on Prime Video 4, where he defeated former champion Kiamrian Abbasov to claim his second ONE world title. Lee overcame adversity early in the contest to storm back in the fourth and score a thrilling technical knockout over his Kyrgyzstani foe.

However, Lee appeared to have struggled with his gas tank throughout the fight, a problem that he says he intends to fix moving forward.

In a recent interview with ONE Championship, the Hawaii resident promised to fill the welterweight frame much better and give a more robust performance in his first title defense in the near future:

“So I just had to really get ready in fight camp, and my body naturally carried the weight easily. It wasn’t like I was cutting weight - [but] it wasn’t like I was at my optimum size at the welterweight division. The next time I fight at welterweight I think that it’s gonna be very different, I feel that I’m gonna be a much different fighter the next time I fight at welterweight.”

Christian Lee is taking a short break to spend time with his family but is expected to be back on the grind in early 2023. After all, he reigns supreme over two of ONE Championship’s most stacked weight divisions, with a plethora of potential opponents chomping at the bits for a crack at his belts.