Tag: Christian Lee

ONE Championship rising star Victoria Lee dead at 18

Victoria Lee, a highly touted ONE Championship prospect, died Dec. 26 at 18, her sister Angela revealed Saturday.

Rising mixed martial arts phenom [autotag]Victoria Lee[/autotag] has died. She was 18.

Lee’s death occurred Dec. 26, according to an Instagram post Saturday by her older sister, ONE Championship atomweight title holder [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag]. A cause of death has not been shared.

“She has gone too soon and our family has been completely devastated since then,” Angela Lee wrote. “We miss her. More than anything in this world. Our family will never be the same. Life will never be the same.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnINSVoS21s/

The surname “Lee” bears much weight in the history of ONE. Angela and brother [autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] have held titles as two of the promotion’s biggest stars. Victoria was pegged as the next sibling to follow their path.

Scheduled to compete in her fourth MMA bout Jan. 14 at ONE on Prime Video 6, Lee had a 3-0 record in MMA. Lee debuted in February 2021 with a rear-naked choke submission of Sunisa Srisen. After a first-round armbar win over Luping Wang in July 2021, Lee picked up her first TKO against previously undefeated Victoria Souza in September 2021.

Prior to her pro MMA debut, Lee impressed at the junior level across multiple combat sports. She was two-time Hawaiian pankration junior world champion, a Hawaii state wrestling champion, and an IMMAF junior world champion.

According to an obituary posted on Valley of the Temples Memorial Park and Funeral Home (Kanahe, Hawaii), a celebration of life has been scheduled for Jan. 22 before her burial.

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MMA Junkie’s 2022 Comeback Fighter of the Year: Zhang Weili

Zhang Weili was on a two-fight skid and an unclear path back to a title shot when the year began. Look how it ended for the two-time UFC champ.

When the calendar flipped from Dec. 31, 2021 to Jan. 1, 2022, [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag] was on a two-fight skid with an uncertain path back to title contention. Fast forward a year, and she’s back on top of strawweight throne.

That’s quite the comeback.

Weili (23-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) capitalized on her 2022 campaign in violent and dominant fashion with finishes over former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and then-champion Carla Esparza en route to a UFC title clinch.

The first highlight added to her reel was Jedrzejczyk, who unwillingly became Weili’s most violent finish to date. The bout took place at UFC 275 in June and was pegged by promotion president Dana White as a title eliminator.

A spinning back elbow put Jedrzejczyk out cold – the first loss of its kind for the Polish fighter. That’s a feat within itself for Weili. After the fight, Jedrzejczyk retired.

Five months later in November, Weili challenged Esparza for the UFC women’s strawweight championship at UFC 281, an event which took place at Madison Square Garden in New York.

After a successful first round, Weili turned up the tempo in Round 2 as she finished Esparza with an unusual modified rear-naked choke to win back the title – and solidify a much different year than she had in 2021.

Weili’s bounce-back from consecutive title losses and retaking of the throne makes her MMA Junkie’s 2022 Comeback Fighter of the Year.

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Honorable Mentions

Drew Dober

[autotag]Drew Dober[/autotag] entered 2022 off back-to-back losses. In three fights this year, he went 3-0 with finishes of Bobby Green, Rafael Alves, and Terrance McKinney to potentially earn him a major matchup in 2023.

Patricio Freire

[autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] was somewhat humiliated when he was starched by A.J. McKee in July 2021. Nine months later, however, he seemed to make everyone forget the loss happened when he defeated McKee in a rematch. The win was his biggest of 2022 but he added a successful title defense against Adam Borics and a crossover victory against RIZIN featherweight champion Kleber Koike to go 3-0.

John Hathaway

It was eight-and-a-half years in between fights for [autotag]John Hathaway[/autotag] – and unprecedented gap caused by ulcerative colitis. Through surgeries, medications, and patience, Hathaway finally returned in October when he defeated Andre Ricardo by unanimous decision at OKTAGON 36.

Karolina Kowalkiewicz

Many fighters are cut when they lose five fights in a row, but the UFC stuck by [autotag]Karolina Kowalkiewicz[/autotag] – and she proved the promotion correct in their decision-making. After a win over fellow veteran Felice Herrig, Kowalkiewicz defeated Silvana Gomez Juarez by decision in November.

Christian Lee

[autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] entered 2022 without a belt – and exited it with two. Not only did Lee avenge a late 2021 welterweight title loss to Rae Yoon Ok, he defeated middleweight champion Kiamrian Abbasov. Both title victories were by TKO.

Brennan Ward

[autotag]Brennan Ward[/autotag] returned from a near five-year layoff in February when he defeated Brandon Bell at Bellator 274. But it wasn’t just the time away he had to overcome. Ward revealed to MMA Junkie in a tell-all feature interview announcing his comeback that he spent most of his career addict to drugs, but finally turned his life around. In 2022, he went 2-0 with two TKO finishes.

MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month for November: Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Chandler meets the hype

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from November 2022.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from November 2022: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for November.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.

Nominees

Christian Lee wants crossover fight with Islam Makhachev: ‘We’ll see who’s the real best lightweight’

After he captured a second ONE Championship title, Christian Lee wants to go after the UFC’s best in Islam Makhachev.

After he captured a second ONE Championship title, [autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] wants to go after the UFC’s best.

Lee (17-4), ONE Championship’s lightweight title holder, had a comeback for the ages when he rallied to TKO Kiamrian Abbasov to capture the welterweight title in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 4 at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Now a dual-champion, Lee wants to challenge himself by going against dominant UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] (23-1).

“I saw a recent video where a fellow competitor over in the UFC, Islam Makhachev, called me out,” Lee said at his post-fight news conference. “He’s inviting me over to the UFC to fight him for his lightweight title. I would love to make that fight happen. Let’s see it. Let’s do a cross-promotion event: lightweight world champion from UFC against lightweight world champion from ONE Championship. We’ll see who’s the real best lightweight in the world.”

Lee plans to move back down to lightweight for his next title defense, but if he’s thinking outside the box, he likes the Makhachev fight.

“Right now, I’m the lightweight world champion (and) the welterweight world champion. I want to fight the best of the best,” Lee said. “So whoever that may be. … A potential crossover fight between UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, that’s definitely an exciting fight. But we’ll see where it goes. I’m keeping my options open and just whatever I could do to challenge myself.”

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Christian Lee def. Kiamrian Abbasov at ONE on Prime Video 4: Best photos

Check out these photos highlighting Christian Lee’s TKO win over Kiamrian Abbasov to claim the welterweight title at ONE on Prime Video 4.

Check out these photos highlighting [autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag]’s TKO win over Kiamrian Abbasov to claim the welterweight title at ONE on Prime Video 4 from Singapore Indoor Stadium. (Photos courtesy of ONE Championship)

ONE on Prime Video 4 results: Christian Lee pulls off incredible comeback to become two-division champion

Christian Lee is now the ONE Championship lightweight and welterweight champion.

[autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] proved he has the heart of a champion.

In the main event of ONE on Prime Video 4 at Singapore Indoor Stadium, Lee (17-4 MMA, 17-4 ONE) had the opportunity to become a two-division champion, and nearly came up short against now-former welterweight champ Kiamrian Abbasov. However, Lee dug deep and pulled off one of the best comebacks of the year.

The fight started off with a furious pace, as Abbasov (23-6 MMA, 4-3 ONE) put heavy pressure on Lee with heavy strikes. Lee was able to get a takedown to slow things down, but a few moments after the fight returned to the feet, Abbasov cracked Lee with a hard left hand, sending him crashing to the ground.

Lee got back to his feet, but Abbasov continued the onslaught of hard strikes. With the referee stepping in closer, the stoppage seemed like it was near, but somehow Lee managed to regain enough awareness to grab a hold of Abbasov and get a takedown to close the round.

In the second and third rounds, Lee worked his way back into the fight by wearing Abbasov down with strikes and takedowns. The momentum steadily shifted in Lee’s favor.

Continuing to build upon his success, Lee turned up the pressure in the fourth round. With Abbasov’s back against the fence, Lee unleashed a series of hard, unanswered leg kicks. A moment later, Lee unloaded a barrage of punches before getting an easy takedown. From there, Lee postured up and emptied the tank until the fight was stopped at 4:20.

With the TKO stoppage, Lee becomes the ONE Championship welterweight (185 pound) and lightweight (170 pound) champion.

“I gotta give Abbasov the credit, he was the champion for a reason,” Lee said during his post-fight interview. “Very tough dude. As you can see, I left it all in the ring, man. I can hardly carry these two belts. I didn’t know where I was, but a true champion never quits, and so, I found a way to come back.”

Lee, 24, has won 8 of his last 9 bouts. In August, he avenged a loss against Rae Yoon Ok to reclaim the lightweight title. With the division cleared out, he moved up to become a two-division champion.

On the other side, Abbasov attempted two-division status of his own in February when he challenged for Reinier de Ridder’s light heavyweight title. He came up short in that bid, and returned to face Lee, dropping his second-straight bout. Prior to 2022, Abbasov won five in a row.

Full results of ONE on Prime Video 4 include:

  • Christian Lee def. Kiamrian Abbasov via TKO (punches) – Round 4, 4:20
  • Stephen Loman def. Bibiano Fernandes via unanimous decision
  • Jae Woong Kim def. Kevin Belingon via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:33
  • Ruslan Emilbek def. Isi Fitikefu via split decision

Christian Lee: ONE on Prime Video 4 welterweight title shot ‘too good of an opportunity to pass up’

Christian Lee will compete for a title in a third division at ONE on Prime Video 4 hoping to finally achieve champ-champ status.

[autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] always has wanted to chase ONE Championship double champ status.

Lee (16-4) reclaimed his lightweight belt in August with a knockout of Rae Yoon Ok, who’d previously took it from him in a decision he thought he won. Lee will now go after a second belt against Kiamrian Abbasov (23-5) in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 4, which takes place Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.

Abbasov was the welterweight champion. However, he was stripped of the belt after weighing in at 186.25 pounds. The stakes don’t change for Lee, who made weight. If he wins, he will be the new welterweight champ.

“When I started off my MMA career, my first goal was always to be a world champion and then second right behind it was to become a world champion in a second division,” Lee told MMA Junkie Radio. “I always wanted to win two. So when the opportunity presented itself to fight for a second world title, to fight for the welterweight belt, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I’m very excited to have this opportunity.”

Although Lee was a title challenger at featherweight, he won’t change too much in his move up to welterweight. It’s a relatively quick turnaround – especially moving up a weight class.

But Lee said it’s not about size.

“I’m just taking the same mindset, the same approach I took in my first fight at lightweight,” Lee said. “When I moved up from featherweight to lightweight it was also straight away for the title and in that fight, I wasn’t so much focused on my weight. I wasn’t focused on being a big guy in the lightweight division. My main focus was on keeping my speed – of course allowing myself to naturally float up to the weight class limit,

“But just trying to be faster than ever, stronger than ever, continuing to work on my cardio so that I was able to have a good gas tank, and that’s the same thing (I did) for this fight camp. I’m not worried about being a bigger guy or about being a smaller guy. I’m just training as hard as I can. … I think the key to this fight for me is going to be the preparation. It’s not going to come down to who’s heavier or lighter there.”

ONE on Prime Video 4 streams entirely on Amazon Prime, starting with prelims at 8 p.m. ET and the main card at 10 p.m. ET.

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MMA Junkie Radio #3309: Guest Christian Lee, UFC Fight Night 214 recap, UFC 281 preview, more

Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.


Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.

On Episode 3,308, the fellas bring on ONE Championship titleholder [autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag]. In addition, they looked back at UFC Fight Night 214, looked ahead to UFC 281, discussed Shane Burgos and Mark Hunt, and much more.

Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.

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Christian Lee closes door on ONE Championship title trilogy against Rae Yoon Ok

Christian Lee doesn’t see the need for a third fight against Rae Yoon Ok.

If it’s up to [autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag], don’t count on another fight against Rae Yoon Ok.

Lee (16-4) reclaimed the lightweight title by finishing Ok (16-4) in the main event of ONE Championship 160, avenging a controversial decision title loss from September 2021. Taking the result out of the judges’ hands this time around, Lee hopes the outcome closes the door on the title fight rivalry with Ok.

“This was a continuation of our first fight,” Lee said during his post-fight interview. “To me, the start of Round 1 was a continuation. It was Round 6. So, the only way this could have ended for good is to get a finish. So, if Ok was to finish me, there’s no need for a rematch. For me, finishing Ok the way I did, there’s no need for a rematch because I feel that I won the first time, and I made sure that I won the second time. So, this is it.”

Looking at the pair of fights from Lee’s perspective, “Round 7” became the definitive moment to put the rivalry to bed when he landed crushing knees to Ok on the ground to end the fight.

“I wasn’t chasing the knockout,” Lee said. “The main thing this fight was staying composed, picking my shots and going for the finish, but taking it in its own time. My whole strategy, my approach was to be patient, and that’s why it ended up being done in the second (round).”

Lee’s finish snapped a five-fight win streak for Ok, which included a unanimous decision win over former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez in April 2021.  It was the third opponent Lee faced for the second time in his 20-fight pro career, and hopes his performance was strong enough to move on to a new challenge in his new title reign.

Check out the full post-fight interview with Lee in the video above.

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ONE Championship 160 results: Christian Lee’s barrage of (legal) knees to grounded Rae Yoon Ok earns him fourth title

It was a violent ending to ONE Championship 160 as Christian Lee took back the title when he blasted Rae Yoon Ok.

[autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] is a ONE Championship titleholder once again.

At ONE Championship 160, Lee (16-4) snatched the title from champion [autotag]Rae Yoon Ok[/autotag] (16-4) with a TKO one minute into Round 2. The event took place Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.

From the opening bell, the takeover was increasingly dominant for Lee. As the first round progressed, Lee landed more and more strikes. Ok showed a sturdy chin, but toward the end of Round 1, the frequency of punishment projected writing on the wall.

In Round 2, a leg kick put Ok on his back foot. Lee moved forward and dropped Ok with an overhand right. As Ok planted both of his hands on the canvas in an attempt to get to his feet, Lee punished him with a brutal knee.

Unlike in the UFC and other major promotions overseen by the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports, ONE Championship follows its own rule set. Knees to a grounded opponent are legal – and are exactly what Lee capitalized on. Lee blasted Ok with four follow-up knees for the finish.

With the victory, Lee avenges a controversial unanimous decision title loss to Ok from September 2021. He moves to 7-1 in his most recent eight. The performance was the 20th career fight for Lee, 24.

Meanwhile, Ok’s five-fight winning streak is snapped. The stretch included victories over Lee, Eddie Alvarez, and Marat Gafurov, among others. The defeat marks the second time Ok has been finished in his career.

The full ONE Championship 160 results include:

  • Christian Lee def. Rae Yook Ok via knockout (knees) – Round 2, 1:00 – for lightweight title
  • Kai Tang def. Thanh Le via unanimous decision
  • Saemapetch Fairtex def. Rittewada Petchyindee via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 1:35 (muay thai)
  • Keanu Subba def. Amir Khan via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:29
  • Martin Batur def. Paul Elliott via TKO (ground-and-pound) – Round 1, 3:38
  • Tommy Langaker def. Renato Canuto via unanimous decision (grappling)

  • Kantharaj Shankar Agasa def. Thales Nakassu via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:55

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