“To fill those shoes” - Christian Lee hopes brother Adrian will soon take his spot as lightweight MMA king

Christian Lee believes his younger brother, Adrian Lee, will take over his ONE lightweight MMA world title in the future.

Adrian Lee extended his ONE Championship MMA record to 3-0 at ONE 172, after dominating Takeharu Ogawa in their lightweight MMA contest and earning a $50,000 performance bonus for submissions in all three fights.

At 19 years old, the younger brother of Christian and Angela Lee has proven to be a future world title contender in the lightweight MMA division.

Adrian's older brother, Christian, is a two-division world champion in the lightweight and welterweight MMA divisions.

During the ONE 172 pre-show, Christian Lee joined the broadcast and had this to say about Adrian potentially filling his shoes at lightweight:

"My focus right now is the welterweight division. I want to take one or two fights this year and we’ll see. Maybe my brother will be able to fill those shoes and claim the lightweight belt."

Adrian's three MMA wins were against Antonio Mammarella, Nico Cornejo, and Takeharu Ogawa. It's only a matter of time until the teenage phenom will be tasked with overcoming a step-up in competition.

Tension has already begun to build for a potential lightweight MMA showdown between Lee and fellow highly-touted prospect Kade Ruotolo.

Ruotolo is the reigning ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion with a professional MMA record of 3-0, all submissions.

Check out the entire ONE 172 pre-show featuring Christian's previously mentioned comments about Adrian below:

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Christian Lee has business to take care of before Adrian Lee's potential succession

Christian Lee previously mentioned he plans to focus on the ONE welterweight MMA division in his next fight.

Meanwhile, the two-division world champion has a lightweight MMA contender waiting after a disappointing ending to their first meeting.

In December 2024, Lee ended a two-year sabbatical with a lightweight MMA world title defense against the undefeated Alibeg Rasulov.

The fight started to heat up before Lee accidentally landed an eye poke in the second round, which Rasulov couldn't recover from.

Although it's unconfirmed by ONE, Rasulov could be Lee's next lightweight MMA world title challenger when the world champion returns to the division.

Before fighting Lee, Rasulov fought once under the ONE banner, defeating former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Ok Rae Yoon by unanimous decision.