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Disaster struck in Christian Lee's highly-anticipated comeback fight in over two years.
Just as things were starting to heat up between 'The Warrior' and his undefeated challenger Alibeg Rasulov at ONE Fight Night 26 last weekend, an errant eye poke led to a rather anticlimactic ending.
In the dying seconds of the second round, Lee was gauging the distance with his jab but did so with an open palm.
Unfortunately, it grazed Rasulov's eye, leaving him unable to see from his right side and forcing the officials to halt the match and rule it as a no-contest.
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Speaking to Mitch Chilson shortly after the unforeseen accident, the two-weight world champion apologized to the fans and made it clear that he had no malicious intent. He said:
"Well, first off, thank you Thailand! Thank you everyone who came out for this fight I appreciate the support."
Christian Lee continued:
"Second, to my opponent, [he's] very tough. I'm sorry about the eye poke, it was completely unintentional. That's not how I wanted to fight to go."
The full replay of ONE Fight Night 26 is available on demand for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Christian Lee shook off the cobwebs against Alibeg Rasulov
To be fair, Christian Lee looked damn good in those 10 minutes before the inadvertent eye poke.
Sure, the 26-year-old's timing and conditioning could have been better since he also took some shots from the Turkish powerhouse.
However, skills-wise, it didn't seem like Lee lost a step after such a lengthy time on the sidelines.
The Evolve MMA and Prodigy Training Center representative striking looked as crisp as ever, and he was outstriking the challenger for the first two rounds.
Lee's clinch work and takedown defense were on point as well, since he didn't allow Rasulov to bully him with his signature Dagestani-style pressure.
A rematch, of course, is inevitable and we all can't wait for part two of Christian Lee versus Alibeg Rasulov.
