"His striking was sharp" - Christian Lee sings praise for Alibeg Rasulov's educated hands in ONE Fight Night 26 barnburner

Christian Lee had to wait a long time to finally make his highly anticipated return to action at ONE Fight Night 26.

The two-division MMA world champion has been working hard in the gym over the past two years and he was excited to show the improvements in his game.

When Alibeg Rasulov defeated Ok Rae Yoon earlier this year, it was clear that he would be the opponent to welcome 'The Warrior' back.

On Dec. 6 at Lumpinee Stadium, their clash for the ONE lightweight world championship ended in unfortunate circumstances.

Rasulov was unable to continue following an unintentional eye poke in the second round which meant that the bout ended in a no contest.

In the two rounds that we did get to see, the fight played out as a striking contest between the two men.

Though Rasulov is mostly known for his grappling skills, he showed that he could stand and trade with the champion if he needed to.

Christian Lee spoke about this in his post-fight interview with the Bangkok Post, saying:

"I think that he would have preferred to wrestle me. But he trained hard and his striking was sharp tonight."

Watch the full interview below:

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Christian Lee was feeling confident at the time of the stoppage

Though Alibeg Rasulov showed that he could be competitive on the feet, Christian Lee was confident about the way the fight was going.

He believes that he was building into the fight and getting stronger so he has no doubts that if it had continued, he would have got his hand raised.

That being said, the divisional king is happy to run the fight back if that's what ONE Championship wants next.

He said that he'll be taking some time away to be with his family ahead of the birth of his next child but after that, he'll be ready to go once again.