Relive the epic battle with Shinya Aoki that ignited Christian Lee’s insane run at lightweight

Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki and ONE’s reigning lightweight world champion Christian Lee are both nearing a return to action. Aoki will step into the Circle at ONE 163 against Russian contender Saygid Izagakhmaev.

Just hours before Aoki makes his return, ‘The Warrior’ will step into the spotlight once again, main eventing ONE on Prime Video 4, but it won’t be Lee’s lightweight world title on the line. Instead, Lee will seek two-division glory when he challenges reigning welterweight titleholder Kiamrian Abbasov.

Before both fighters mix it up under the bright lights of the Singapore Indoor Stadium, ONE Championship takes a look back at the epic world title showdown between Christian Lee and Shinya Aoki from ONE: Enter the Dragon in 2019.

Watch the Christian Lee vs. Shinya Aoki fight below:

On that night, ‘The Warrior’ shocked the world, knocking out Aoki 51 seconds into the second round to capture the ONE world title, ending the second reign of ‘Tobikan Judan’ in a mere six weeks.

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Shinya Aoki has no regrets about accepting the short notice bout with Christian Lee

At ONE: A New Era in March 2019, Shinya Aoki captured the lightweight world title, defeating former world champion Eduard Folayang in spectacular fashion, submitting ‘Landslide’ in the very first round. Right after his win, Aoki unprecedentedly called out then-featherweight contender Christian Lee to challenge him for his newly-won crown.

Six weeks later, Aoki found out how determined Lee could get. The Singaporean-American endured a tight armbar from ‘Tobikan Judan’ in the first round, and later came back to deliver a barrage of strikes for the TKO finish in the second round.

In a flash, Aoki found his reign dead and buried. Despite the outcome, ‘Tobikan Judan’ has no regrets over calling out Lee and competing within six weeks of his challenge that ultimately cost him a ONE world championship:

“I was the champion at the moment, and I felt strong,” Aoki said in an interview with ONE Championship. “I really wanted to fight against a strong and young fighter - I won’t escape from those young lions. At the age of 35, my mind was like “you want to compete with youngsters or ignore [them] and live your life?”. I wanted to crash with youngsters. It was a quick turnaround, I only had one and a half months until that fight.”

Aoki added:

“There’s no regret because I was able to showcase what I wanted to tell fans, what I wanted to do, what I’ve been doing. In fact, because of that fight, we made such a great world champion. I made that great champion, Christian Lee is an iconic champion at ONE.”