“I’d prefer not to fight guys from my country” - Why Kiamrian Abbasov isn’t interested in fighting Murad Ramazanov

Before Kiamrian Abbasov was scheduled to defend his ONE welterweight world championship against the current lightweight king Christian Lee at ONE on Prime Video 4, ‘Brazen’ was slated to face undefeated Russian grappler Murad Ramazanov.

Unfortunately, for Ramazanov, ‘Brazen’ has no interest in fighting contenders from his own country. At least, that’s what Abbasov told ONE Championship in a recent interview:

“I’m interested in an athlete who has a belt, a champ vs. champ. And, as I’ve just said, I’d prefer not to fight guys from my country.”

While getting to pick and choose your opponents is a luxury that quickly dissipates as a world champion, Abbasov was able to find just the guy to defend his title against in Christian Lee, a world champion eager to fulfill his goal of becoming a two-division titleholder.

In an interview with The MMA Super Fan, Lee said that becoming the champion of two divisions has been his goal since the very beginning:

"Personally, it’s always been a goal of mine to become a double champ. Since I joined the promotion, since I started my career in MMA, my goal was first to become a world champion and second to become a double champion in two divisions."

ONE on Prime Video 4 will air live and free to North American audiences with a Prime Video subscription.

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Kiamrian Abbasov says Christian Lee will be begging to stop the fight at ONE on Prime Video 4

You can never accuse welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov of lacking confidence. Going into a high-profile main event against the most prolific finisher in ONE Championship history, ‘Brazen’ is cool as a cucumber.

In fact, he’s issued a rather stern warning to Lee, who is moving up from lightweight in an attempt to become a two-division world champion:

“A lot of things will go off plan for him. Naturally, he will complain to his dad or coach: ‘Coach, big problem. Kiamrian Abbasov is a big problem. Please, stop the fight. Stop the fight.’"

He added:

“When the cage is closed, neither the media nor his family will help him. It will be only I and he with all his big problems because of his desire to move up to my division.”

That is pretty tough talk from a fighter who has only defended his welterweight title once in more than three years, going 1-1 in that timeframe. Nevertheless, Kiamrian Abbasov is an undeniable threat to any man that steps into the circle with him. Well, any man not named Reinier de Ridder.

Watch their fight below: