ONE Lightweight World Champion Christian Lee is striving to add more gold to his collection and enter the record books in the process at ONE On Prime Video 4.
The Singaporean-American superstar will challenge Kiamrian Abbasov for the ONE Welterweight World Title at ONE on Prime Video 4, which broadcasts live in U.S. primetime on Friday, November 18.
If the 24-year-old defeats Abbasov for the belt in the main event, he would become the youngest ever two-division MMA World Champion in history.
ONE On Prime Video 4 Main Event
Christian Lee has all but dominated since entering the lightweight ranks at ONE Championship.
In May 2019, “The Warrior” moved up from the featherweight division to challenge the then-ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki and proceeded to knock out the Japanese MMA legend to capture the gold.
Lee followed that victory by defeating Dagi Arslanaliev in the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Championship Final to claim the silver belt and then delivered a pair of successful World Title defenses, finishing both the highly rated Iuri Lapicus and Timofey Nastyukhin via first-round TKO.
Although this was followed by a dubious loss to Ok Rae Yoon via a controversial decision in September 2021, Lee would go on to reclaim the World Title with a dominant knockout of Ok in their rematch this past August.
Now, “The Warrior” Christian Lee will follow in the footsteps of his older sister, reigning atomweight queen “Unstoppable” Angela Lee, by moving up a weight class and challenging for two-division supremacy.
Kyrgyzstan King
In a similar fashion, the reigning lightweight king, Abbasov, has been a force in his own weight class.
The Kyrgyzstan-based fighter has torn through the welterweight division, submitting former ONE World Title challenger Agilan Thani, knocking out Japanese MMA icon Yushin Okami, and then dethroning Zebaztian Kadestam to claim the ONE Welterweight World Championship in October 2019.
Abbasov enjoyed a successful first World Title defence, finishing then-undefeated and highly rated challenger James Nakashima via fourth-round TKO.
Then this past February, the welterweight king took his own shot for legacy at two-division gold when he moved up and challenged Reinier de Ridder for the ONE Middleweight World Title.
But on this occasion, falling short as the Dutchman proved to be too big, ultimately forcing Abbasov to submit with an arm-triangle choke.
On November 18, it will be Lee’s turn to challenge Abbasov and attempt to become a two-division king himself.
But Lee won’t be the only fighter who can win a second ONE World Title belt.
Co-main Event: Lasiri vs. Rodtang
New ONE Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Joseph “The Hurricane” Lasiri will also try to become a two-division king when he challenges ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon for the gold in the co-main event.
Rodtang has been near-flawless in his ONE Championship tenure to date.
Since making his promotional debut in September 2018, “The Iron Man” has won all 11 of his Muay Thai and kickboxing fights.
During his impressive run, Rodtang defeated Jonathan “The General” Haggerty for the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Title in August 2019 and has since defended his belt on three occasions.
Rodtang attempted to make history himself when he participated in the organization’s inaugural mixed rules super-fight against legendary Demetrious Johnson this past March, but he was choked out during the MMA rounds.
Nonetheless, the 25-year-old has become world-famous for his granite chin, aggression, and ruthless big press forward style, which has landed him on highlight-reel videos all over the internet.
But on November 18, he meets a durable scrappy challenger in Lasiri, who is tough as nails and never takes a backward step.
Underdog Story
Following a difficult start to his ONE Championship career, Lasiri rejuvenated himself in 2020.
He fine-tuned his training, moved down to strawweight, and looked to make a run at the top of the division.
The Italian-Moroccan slugger built some momentum, edging out former ONE World Title challenger Rocky Ogden and knocking out Asahi Shinagawa in a pair of catchweight bouts.
That earned “The Hurricane” a crack at ONE Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Prajanchai PK. Saenchai appeared to be quite invincible.
But Lasiri, the ultimate underdog, proved he was human and made him quit on the stool to capture the gold this past May.
Lasiri stopped one seemingly unstoppable World Champion this year, and at ONE on Prime Video 4, he will try to do it again when he meets Rodtang at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
If he is successful, then the 31-year-old underdog will become the latest two-division ONE World Champion in the Muay Thai ranks and quite possibly the greatest underdog in ONE history.
Image Credit ONE Championship
