By:  | July 28, 2022 4:56 pm

It has been eight months since Christian Lee went the distance with Ok Rae Yoon. He lost by decision and it sounds like the former lightweight champion still hasn’t come to terms with the defeat.

Lee is adamant that he should have won the fight and can’t understand why two for the three judges scored it for his Korean opponent,

“If you look at ONE Championship’s scoring criteria, I won in every area. If we go on near finish and you go on the damage done, I broke his orbital in the first round, I dropped him big in the third round, and I came close to getting two submissions. That really speaks for itself.”

Because Lee broke Yoon’s orbital he has had to wait nearly a year for the rematch. The Hawaiian didn’t do enough damage to win the decision but he did do enough damage to ensure his opponent had to undergo surgery and take a long break from training.

New plan

The two lightweights will run it back at ONE 160 and Lee has respect for his opponent’s stamina but hints he will utilize a different game plan from the first fight,

“The only credit I do give him is being able to last all five rounds and having the cardio to keep a good pace throughout all five rounds. So, in my opinion, I still won the fight, but I’m definitely not going to go into the (rematch) with the same game plan.”

Lee made it clear after the first fight that he wanted a rematch and was willing to wait for it. If he wins next month the two fighters will be 1-1 and a trilogy fight could be the obvious match to make.

But Lee wants to close this chapter of his career  firmly. He hopes to beat Yoon so soundly that there will be no appetite for a third fight between the two lightweights,

“I definitely believe that I’m going to win this fight. If it is a close decision I can see how they can set up a trilogy fight, but if the fight goes how I plan on it going – I’m going to take him out quick and finish him – then there’s going to be no need for a rematch.”

 

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Another level

The fight takes place approximately 12 hours before ONE Championship’s debut on Amazon Prime. It means the card Lee is headlining won’t be the biggest the promotion is putting on that weekend but he doesn’t sound too worried about that,

“I think this deal with Amazon Prime is really going to take ONE Championship to another level, especially as they break into the U.S. market,” he said.

The Amazon Prime cards will be taking place every month and it sounds like Lee believes he will be fighting on one of them sooner or later,

“I’m glad to see how ONE Championship is just stepping up their game and getting to bigger and bigger platforms. I’m glad and I’m honored to be a part of it.”