Saygid Izagakhmaev apologizes to Shinya Aoki, calls out Christian Lee in post-fight at ONE 163

Russian juggernaut Saygid Izagakhmaev earned the biggest win of his mixed martial arts career on Saturday

Izagakhmaev practically walked through Asian MMA legend Shinya Aoki, putting away the former ONE lightweight world champion in an impressive 86-seconds. In the opening moments of the bout, Izagakhmaev landed a massive right hand that immediately sent ‘Tobikan Judan’ to the canvas.

Smelling blood in the water, Izagakhmaev moved in and delivered a series of strikes on the ground until the referee had no choice but to step in and call for the stoppage.

The win was Saygid Izagakhmaev’s third straight. Following the victory, he spoke to Mitch Chilson and immediately apologized to Aoki for the disrespectful things he said prior to the fight:

“When I said ‘I kill you Aoki’, it’s only trash talk. Sorry guys, I love you Aoki. I apologized to Shinya. I respect him a lot, he’s a legend, I learned a lot from him. First I thought that I should choke him out to get the bonus, but I was like ‘I’m just gonna finish it.’”

On top of his biggest victory yet, Izagakhmaev earned himself a $50,000 bonus from the ONE Championship CEO.

---

Saygid Izagakhmaev calls for a fight with lightweight champion Christian Lee

Burying the hatchet with Shinya Aoki wasn’t the only thing Saygid Izagakhmaev intended on doing during his post-fight interview. The Russian contender used his moment to call for a fight with the reigning ONE lightweight world champion, Christian Lee:

“Chatri I’m ready to fight. I saw that Christian Lee won the fight today, he’s a good opponent for [me], he’s the next one. Chatri make that happen. I need this belt right now, right here.”

Hours before Izagakhmaev earned his victory, Christian Lee etched his name into the history books by defeating Kiamrian Abbasov in the ONE on Prime Video 4 main event.

The victory earned ‘The Warrior’ the ONE welterweight world championship, making him the latest two-division titleholder in the promotion.

With two titles around his waist and every intention of defending them both, Christian Lee’s next appearance inside the circle is anyone’s guess, but having already handled a majority of the lightweight top five, a fight with Saygid Izagakhmaev certainly makes sense.

Would you prefer to see Lee return to the lightweight division to defend his title against Izagakhmaev or should his next matchup be against the winner of Roberto Soldic vs. Murad Ramazanov at ONE on Prime Video 5 in two short weeks?