“I’m a big fan” - Zebaztian Kadestam will fight Christian Lee only under one circumstance

ONE lightweight world champion Christian Lee is not in Zebaztian Kadestam’s crosshairs at the moment.

‘The Bandit’ recently gave a blunt response when asked what it would take for him to share the circle with the Singaporean-American MMA superstar.

In an interview with Tom Taylor of SCMP MMA, the former ONE welterweight kingpin said that he’d only be interested in exchanging fists with Lee if a world title was up for grabs.

‘The Bandit’ added that he admires Lee as a fighter but facing him is not his priority right now.

Zebaztian Kadestam explained:

“It’s not a fight that I feel would be necessary for me to welcome him or anything. If it was for gold, sure. Otherwise, I’m a big fan. So it’s not a fight that I’m looking for.”

Lee is certainly one of the hottest commodities in ONE right now after obliterating his rival Ok Rae Yoon last month to reclaim his lost crown.

Considering there is no clear-cut no.1 contender in his division during this time, some pundits are suggesting Lee to move up a a weight class in a bid to claim two world titles.

Obviously, the best way to test yourself in a new division is to go up against a former champion like Kadestam.

However, it appears that Kadestam doesn’t think he has anything to gain from fighting Lee at 185-pounds.

'The Bandit’ does look like he’s back to his old self following the worst stretch of his MMA career. The 31-year-old Swedish striker lost his world title to Kiamrian Abbasov in 2019, followed by two stinging defeats at the hands of Gadjimurad Abdulaev and Murad Ramazanov, respectively.

The Legacy and Pancrease gym fighter, however, got back in the win column by scoring a huge knockout win over Valmir Da Silva.

‘The Bandit’’ then proved he is still one of the scariest KO artists in the world by putting Iuri Lapicus to sleep with a thunderous uppercut in his last outing.

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Zebaztian Kadestam has a different opponent in mind

To be clear, Zebaztian Kadestam does not mind welcoming new talents to ONE’s welterweight division. In fact, he already offered himself against the promotion’s latest free agent signing, Roberto ‘Robocop’ Soldic.

Shortly after knocking out Lapicus, Kadestam boldly called out the Croatian superstar in his ONE on Prime Video 1 post-fight interview. He stated:

“I heard ONE is going back to Tokyo. I never been. I wanna be in it. I also heard they have just signed a monster. I love fighting monsters. Roberto Soldic, let’s go!”

Lucky for him, Soldic is a willing dance partner and has already accepted his challenge.

‘Robocop’ replied on his Instagram story:

"Kadestam, you called me out, I accept your fight. Let's see you very soon."

ONE, meanwhile, is still narrowing down their options for Soldic’s highly-anticipated debut. But by the looks of it, a clash with Zebaztian Kadestam is the fight to make.