Christian Lee Suggests ONE Hold Another Lightweight Tournament After He Clears Division
Christian Lee—the younger brother of Angela—has all but cleared out the entire lightweight division’s top five.
The Singaporean reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion defeated Shinya Aoki to capture the belt, Iuri Lapicus and Timofey Nastyukhin in defense of the belt and Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev in a tournament bout. Those names comprise four of the top five lightweights in ONE Championship, leaving Lee with one remaining opponent.
Ok Rae Yoon is next in the queue, currently sitting in the number three slot in the rankings. He will take on Lee on September 24, live on ONE: REVOLUTION at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The South Korean athlete holds a professional mixed martial arts record of 15-3, identical to that of Lee’s.
Although he is a sizable underdog, the situation is not unfamiliar to Ok, who defeated both Eddie Alvarez and Marat Gafurov with plus odds attached to his name. Those wins have earned him the foreboding nickname of “Legend Killer,” a trend that Lee intends to abolish.
If the odds are correct and Ok falls to the champion, this would mean that Lee has completely cleared out the lightweight division’s top five. Which leaves the ONE Championship brass in a bit of a pickle to determine who comes next.
When asked about the prospect of holding another ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix, Lee was quick to express his support for the idea.
“I think that would be a good idea. It would draw a lot of attention to the lightweight division. After Ok Rae Yoon, there’s no one left in line for the lightweight title, there’s no one left for me to defend my belt against. I think it would be interesting for the division, and it would be a good way to find the true number one contender,” the 23-year-old Lee said.
Opening up another Grand Prix in the lightweight division would not only identify the next contender for the winner of Lee versus Ok, it also has the potential to uncover a novel adversary from the outskirts of the top five.
Names like former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez come to mind, along with newcomer Zhang Lipeng—who shares “The Warrior” nickname with Lee—or dark horses like Pieter Buist or Tony Caruso, among others.
Even with the prospect of a tournament on the rise, Lee maintains his respect for Ok as an opponent, insisting that—for now—his focus will remain on his upcoming bout.
“Right now the guy I want to fight right now is Ok Rae Yoon, in my opinion he’s the only guy deserving of a title shot, and so he’s the guy I want to fight,” Lee said.
