“You can’t just be a specialist in one area” - Adrian Lee on the importance of being well-rounded ahead of ONE 172 return

Times are changing. And so is the quality that fighters must uphold themselves to. As the sport evolves, so does the level of competition. Adrian Lee is well aware of this fact and keeps this in mind as he gears up for his third outing at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang this Sunday.

"I think with all these new next-gen MMA fighters who grow up doing everything, it’s definitely something you have to look out for," Lee said. "Because back in the day, you got the specialists in each category, but now you’ve got this new generation who’s trained everything from the beginning. I think the game is definitely changing. You can’t just be a specialist in one area. You kinda have to know it all to be at the very top."

Gone are the days of being a one-dimensional threat. Some athletes still come from a specific background and try to fill the gaps later, but Lee grew up with a mixed martial arts mindset from the start.

The first generation of modern MMA fighters have already begun passing on the torch to their children, and eventually, fighters like Adrian Lee will likely become the norm.

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“I've been doing everything” - Adrian Lee says well-rounded game has been key to his success

Adrian Lee has a gestalt mindset when it comes to MMA: it's a complete art form and not just a sum of its parts. If you ask him to name his strongest area, even 'The Phenom' has a hard time picking one.

"Maybe grappling. It's kind of hard because I've been grappling for a long time, but I've been doing everything for a long time. There's not really one or the other. For me, it's like mixed martial arts as a whole. I've been training for as long as I can remember."

ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang will be available to fight fans via pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com this Sunday, March 23.