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One Championship's Christian Lee knows greatness when he sees it. Being the youngest male MMA world champion in history, Lee understands what excellence looks like and is not shy about expressing his admiration for his peers.
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Lee was asked which fighter he found most impressive in 2022 so far. To this, the Canadian-American fighter said:
"There's been a lot of good fights. I mean, of course, you know, my sister [Angela Lee], I can't count that out, it was just such an amazing performance. To be able to take such a long layoff, to go through a whole pregnancy, have a baby, and then come back and pick up the number one contender in your division -- to me, that was the most impressive win."
Christian Lee's sister, ONE Championship women's atomweight world champion Angela Lee, put up quite the performance last March. Lee came off a long lay-off due to her pregnancy and then headlined the biggest martial arts event in history, ONE X.
Against what most consider to be her toughest challenger yet, Angela Lee submitted Stamp Fairtex after surviving a hellacious body shot that almost ended her night early.
Her come-from-behind win following her long hiatus from the sport could easily be ranked as one of the best comeback stories of the year.
Christian Lee considers Reinier de Ridder as one of the best ONE Championship fighters in 2022 so far
Aside from his sister Angela, Christian Lee also cited ONE Championship middleweight and light heavyweight world champion Reinier de Ridder as one of the most impressive fighters of 2022 so far.
In the interview, Lee spoke highly of de Ridder's performances this year. The former ONE lightweight world champion said:
"I think Reinier [De Ridder] has done a great job winning his fights and finishing them and also going in there, in the grappling match against arguably one of the best grapplers out there. And having good moments in that matchup. So he's doing really great as well. So between those two, I think right now they're on top."
De Ridder, who will defend his ONE middleweight world title against Vitaly Bigdash at ONE 159, has had two strong showings so far inside the circle this year.
After dismantling ONE welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov in February of this year, De Ridder made a quick turnaround a month later.
At ONE X, 'The Dutch Knight' made a bold move by challenging grappling legend Andre Galvao in his own backyard: submission grappling. Galvao is a legend amongst legends in grappling and de Ridder held his own against him.
The match ended in a draw despite most pundits believing that Galvao would dominate and submit De Ridder.
With two stellar performances in the cage in 2022 so far, it looks like ONE Championship's two-division world champion is primed to make this year his own.
