Christian Lee rematch with Ok Rae Yoon announced as new ONE 160 main event

It’s either vindication or validation for Christian Lee and Ok Rae Yoon.

ONE Championship announced on Tuesday, July 5, that the rematch between ONE lightweight world champion Ok Rae Yoon and former titleholder Christian Lee will now headline ONE 160 on August 26 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Thanh Le’s defense of the ONE featherweight world title against Tang Kai is now the card’s co-main event.

The first meeting between Lee, the former lightweight king, and Yoon ended in controversy despite the South Korean taking a unanimous decision win.

It was as razor-thin as any other fight of equally close caliber, which had fans debating who exactly had the better performance back in September 2021 at ONE: Revolution.

Lee was quick to congratulate Yoon following the bout but he also felt that the scoring wasn’t entirely accurate and that he should have won.

Christian Lee posted on Instagram following the match:

“Last night, I fought a five-round war with a very tough opponent in Ok Rae Yoon. He has earned my respect and has shown how resilient he is by surviving all five rounds. However, I absolutely believe that I won this fight. Myself, Chatri Sityodong, many MMA media, and fans around the world know that this fight was not judged correctly or fairly. If you look at the @onechampionship scoring criteria or any MMA scoring criteria, I beat my opponent in every category.”

Despite Lee’s protest, it was still Yoon's hand that was raised in the end.

Following the match, Yoon posted on Instagram that it was a joy to achieve a lifelong dream and that he will defend the belt against whoever ONE Championship puts in the circle with him.

The South Korean star posted:

“Finally I achieved my lifelong dream of becoming the World Champion 🙏🏼 But this is not the end. I will think of this as another start of my career, stay humble and defend my title next… I’ll be back soon in that circle.”

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Return to glory for Christian Lee, road to dominance for Ok Rae Yoon

Christian Lee and Ok Rae Yoon are treading similar paths in their respective careers, and their rematch is that all-important fork in the road for both of them.

Before his match against Lee, Yoon defeated absolute monsters in Marat Gafurov and MMA legend Eddie Alvarez to earn the world title shot. While beating those two big names is already an insane feat, he did that in a span of just a week in April last year.

Lee, meanwhile, has established himself as one of the brightest stars of his generation since making his ONE Championship debut in 2015.

The Singaporean-American superstar was on a six-fight winning streak before he fought Yoon. It was during that stellar run that Lee snatched the ONE lightweight world title from Japanese legend Shinya Aoki in May 2019.

Not content with just being the world champion, ‘The Warrior’ added the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Championship to his collection when he beat Dagi Arslanaliev in the tournament final in October of that same year.