"Runs in the blood" - Fans laud young phenom Adrian Lee's blistering submission finish of Nico Cornejo in Denver

18-year-old MMA sensation Adrian Lee made quick work of veteran fighter Nico Cornejo in their lightweight MMA match at ONE 168: Denver, which went down last Sept. 6 at the Ball Arena in Colorado.

Lee hunted the neck of Cornejo like a vampire and ended the match with a first-round rear-naked choke submission to collect his second victory under the world's largest martial arts organization.

The winning moment of the fight was reposted by ONE Championship on Instagram, and they captioned it:

"On the RISE 🚀 Adrian Lee caps a dominant performance by first-round submission@ @adrianleemma"

Much like what he did during his first match against Antonio Mammarella in June 2024 at ONE 167, 'The Phenom' immediately pressed the action and went for a takedown against 'The Steel City Kid' until he was able to maneuver to the technique that he wanted and eventually force the tap out of him.

Due to this impeccable showing, fans gave their high praise to Lee and sees a bright future for him as @softsoap._, @kelterlovesberserk, @sawn_not_swan, @huaiwlife, and @tokkuyasu commented:

"This kid is gonna go place"

"He's actually so tuff holyyy"

"Runs in the blood.. damn!!!"

"bro didn't even get hit once 😭"

"First round is crazy"

Screenshot of fans' comments

North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE 168: Denver via the free event replay.

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Adrian Lee shifts focus on helping brother Christian Lee for his upcoming title defense at ONE 169: Atlanta

Following the victory, the Prodigy Training Center representative will now focus completely on helping his older brother, Christian Lee, prepare for his upcoming ONE lightweight world title defense against Alibeg Rasulov on Nov. 8 at ONE 169: Atlanta.

Lee shared this during his post-fight interview with Mitch Chilson by saying:

"Well, right now, I'm focusing on my brother, Christian Lee, preparing for his title defense in Georgia. So, you know, after that, then I'll start thinking about more fights."