Christian Lee talks about the challenge of being and remaining a two-division world champion

Newly-crowned two-division world champion Christian Lee recently admitted that it takes a special type of athlete to defend two world titles at the same time.

The 24-year-old sensation won his second world title in dramatic fashion last November at ONE on Prime Video 4, dethroning welterweight king Kiamrian Abbasov with a come-from-behind victory in the fourth round.

As the owner of two belts, both lightweight and welterweight, the difficulty of retaining them has automatically doubled. If he succeeds in defending both world titles, he will be the second MMA fighter in ONE history, after ‘The Burmese Python’ Aung La N Sang, to reach that feat.

When Christian Lee was asked about defending his two-division world championship status, he told ONE:

“It’s extremely difficult. If you look at MMA history, there are very few fighters who have accomplished that task of winning two divisions, especially simultaneously reigning both divisions at the same time. It’s not an easy task to even get there, but defending both divisions, that’s a completely different story.”

Back in 2019, 'The Warrior' became the youngest lightweight world champion in ONE history when he defeated former Japanese veteran Shinya Aoki at ONE: Enter the Dragon.

He successfully defended the belt three more times before surrendering it to Ok Rae Yoon via a controversial decision in September 2021. And finally, only this year at ONE 160, he left no doubt in their rematch, winning by TKO in round two to reclaim the world title.

These notable moments in his career show how much Lee has grown in the span of a few years. Whether it’s to defend or challenge for a world title, Christian Lee has proven time and again that he’s just built different.

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Christian Lee says he "put everything on the line" when he faced Kiamrian Abbasov at ONE on Prime Video 4

All of Christian Lee’s fights have been nothing but difficult. Entering the MMA scene at age 17, Lee has been putting every ounce of his being into winning, growing, and developing a strong mindset.

When it came to his world title fight with Abbasov, Lee went above and beyond to get himself ready for battle.

15 pounds heavier than his natural weight class of 170 lbs, Lee proved his doubters wrong with a beautiful technical knockout finish after a laborious 20 minutes against one of the greatest welterweights in the world.

In the post-fight presser, Christian Lee revealed the following axiom that helped him reach this big milestone:

“In order to be successful, you have to put everything on the line. You have to be successful as bad as you want to breathe and I think the best in the world know that.”