WATCH: Christian Lee’s historic lightweight world title win over Japanese legend Shinya Aoki

Christian Lee, Shinya Aoki | Image courtesy of ONE
Christian Lee, Shinya Aoki | Image courtesy of ONE

ONE lightweight and welterweight world champion Christian Lee is one of the best MMA fighters in the world today. His combination of unstoppable aggression, piston-like strikes, and relentless grappling brought him to the top of two weight classes in ONE Championship.

In May 2019, 'The Warrior', who was just 20-years-old at the time, defeated the great Shinya Aoki to earn his first world title in ONE. It was one of the most heart-stopping two-round world title fights you'll ever see.

ONE Championship posted a throwback video of the now-historic bout:

"Flash🔙 to when Christian Lee took out Shinya Aoki to earn the ONE Lightweight World Title 👑 @christianleemma"

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Former ONE lightweight kingpin Shinya 'Tobikan Judan' Aoki is considered one of the very best at translating jiujitsu into full-on cage fighting. His dominance of the ground game has struck fear in the hearts of fighters for nearly two decades.

Before the bout with Christian Lee, pundits were saying that the then-reigning world champion would wipe the floor with his young challenger. That if the fight goes to the ground, an Aoki tap out wouldn't be a possibility, but an eventuality.

It almost went that way as the Japanese MMA legend went straight to work and took Lee down with ease. Moments later, 'Tobikan Judan' was stretching a fully-extended armbar on the 'The Warrior'. Perhaps through sheer willpower, the determined underdog wiggled out of the tight submission and came back to score a highlight-reel knockout in the second round to win ONE's lightweight strap.

It was one of the greatest comeback underdog wins in the promotion's history. Christian Lee went on to defend, lose, and then regain the ONE lightweight world title in the next few years. In his latest outing, he defeated Kiamrian 'Brazen' Abbasov at ONE on Prime Video 4 late last year to win the ONE welterweight world title, making him a double champ.

At the moment, Lee is on a self-imposed hiatus from the sport in order to recover from the untimely loss of his younger sister and fellow ONE fighter Victoria Lee last year.

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Edited by Taimoor Malik
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