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He may be a two-division world champion, but Christian Lee very much remains the top lightweight in ONE Championship.
Lee, who holds the ONE lightweight and welterweight world title, responded to Islam Makhachev’s call-out during the ONE on Prime Video 4 fight week in Singapore.
Makhachev, the UFC lightweight world champion, said in a now-deleted Instagram story that Lee should come to the UFC to see who between them deserves recognition as the undisputed best lightweight in the world.
Lee, who beat Kiamrian Abbasov for the welterweight gold at ONE on Prime Video 4, said that he’d gladly fight Makhachev in a cross-promotional event between ONE Championship and the American mixed martial arts organization:
“I saw a recent video of a fellow competitor over in the UFC, Islam Makhachev calling me out. 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. The lightweight world champion from UFC gets the lightweight world champion from ONE Championship. We'll see who's the real best lightweight in the world.”
Though Lee and Makhachev didn’t get to interact publicly this past week, they were in the same location for ONE Championship’s double-header of ONE on Prime Video 4 and ONE 163 this past weekend.
Lee headlined ONE on Prime Video 4 while Makhachev was in Saygid Izagakhmaev’s corner in his fight against Shinya Aoki at ONE 163 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Saygid Izagakhmaev calls out Christian Lee
While the mega fight between Christian Lee and Makhachev is practically an impossible proposition, there is another fight that is easier to finalize.
Saygid Izagakhmaev’s victory over Aoki at ONE 163 could set him up for a future world title match against Lee, and the Russian mauler wasted no time in getting the two-division world champion’s attention.
During his post-fight interview with Mitch Chilson, Izagakhmaev immediately called on ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong for a potential shot at Lee’s ONE lightweight world title"
“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.”
