Christian Lee Discusses Who’d He’d Like To Face Next
After claiming the ONE Lightweight World Championship last May, Christian Lee just captured the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Title, when he outclassed Saygid ‘Dagi’ Arslanaliev in the tournament finals last Sunday in Tokyo, Japan, at ONE: Century Part II.
Moments after his win, the Hawaiian Singaporean champion addressed the media and revealed the reason behind his decision to step in the shoes of the injured Eddie Alvarez.
“Honestly, it was just me as a fighter, as a champion, showing up and going to work, I’ve been saying it all week, ever since I got the fight. As the champion, I should be ready to face any opponent at any time, and that’s what I did. I took on a dangerous opponent and got the win after three rounds,” Lee explained.
The 21-year old title holder also shared his game plan for the match up against ‘Dagi’ and admitted that he went all-out during the bout.
“I had ten days to prepare for this bout. My game plan was there, we created a quick strategy for this opponent, but as you could see – the camera probably caught it, me throwing up after the fight – I left everything in there.”
Lee was also quick to laud ‘Dagi’ for his performance, saying he pushed him to his limits.
“‘Dagi’ is a tough opponent, I have all the respect in the world for him, and he pushed me very far. I give one hundred percent of the credit to my team, to the work that we put in at our gym.”
The younger brother of ONE Women’s Atomweight Champion Angela Lee identified their hardwork and dedication, as the biggest factor to continuously pursuit for greater things in his young martial arts career.
“My sister and I are in the gym year-round, even when we don’t have a fight booked. That’s the way we live our life. I had to dig deep, but that’s already in me. The hard work was what really won me the fight, and that’s what I put in every day in the gym.”
We rarely see champions calling out contenders to face next, instead contenders are calling out the champion to challenge them, but ‘The Warrior’ now has an opponent in mind and the perfect venue for it.
“There are a lot of [lightweights] worthy of being the contender, but as we’re doing the first show live on TNT in the US, I’d love to see a show in New York City against Eddie Alvarez, or even in Hawaii,” the ‘Warrior’ fearlessly announced.
Setting up a showdown with the ‘Underground King’ in the United States for his ONE Lightweight World Championship defence is not a far fetched dream and the matchmakers of the promotion could very well grant him his wish.
The young champion believes that this is the perfect bout to showcase ONE Championship‘s finest athletes when they set foot in the Western side of the globe.
“I think that the fans would be very excited to see a match with Eddie Alvarez in the US, and I would love to be the first person to bring ONE Championship to the United States, so I could see that being next.”
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