Christian Lee has another ONE Championship title in his collection. The reigning lightweight champion moved up a division to challenge Kiamrian Abbasov for his welterweight strap and stopped the former champion in the fourth round.
Abbasov lost his title on the scales after narrowly missing weight. He made a strong start and dropped Lee with a left hook in the opening round. The Hawaiian got back up but was eating punch after punch with the referee taking a close look at the action.
Lee was somehow able to survive and take Abbasov down, finishing the round in mount. The frantic pace had clearly taken its toll on both men and the pace slowed in the second stanza.
Kiamrian Abbasov drops the HAMMER on Christian Lee in Round 1! How is he still standing?! 🤯
Tune in NOW to catch the rest of ONE on Prime Video 4 — LIVE and FREE in the U.S. and Canada with a Prime Video subscription! pic.twitter.com/jKgRKTdwOK
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) November 19, 2022
Striking exchanges
But Lee was clearly getting the better of the striking exchanges with Abbasov trying to time the punches and slip under for a takedown. He landed a hard knee at the start of the third round with the lightweight champion setting the pace.
The fourth round started slowly but both men seemed to have gained a second wind. A series of low kicks from Lee clearly hurt Abbasov who wasn’t checking them and started to look unsteady.
He switched strategy and started to punish Abbasov with elbows. A lot of them were absorbed by his opponent’s high guard so he took the fight down and started to go to work from mount.
https://twitter.com/ONEChampionship/status/1593848072097914881?s=20&t=tuDvSCHmQnMKnyInGH_JxQ
Back to back
Lee threw down elbows from top position with Abbasov blocking a lot of them but unable to intelligently defend himself. The end came at the 4:20 mark and afterwards he collapsed on the canvass in exhaustion.
With the win Lee captures the welterweight strap, meaning that he now holds two ONE Championship titles concurrently. The 24 year old also demonstrated that he is one of the best pound for pound fighters on the roster.
Lee improves to 16-4 and it will be interesting to see which title he defends next with Robert Soldic set to face Murad Ramazonov in a welterweight eliminator next month. Abbasov drops to 23-6 after losing back to back bouts.
DOUBLE CHAMP 👑👑 Lightweight king @ChristianLeeMMA 🇺🇸🇸🇬 TKOs Kiamrian Abbasov to win the ONE Welterweight World Title!#ONEonPrimeVideo4 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/vnlzbu9mlq
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) November 19, 2022
Best of the rest
Stephen Loman (17-2) scored the biggest win of his career at the expense of former bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes (24-6). He controlled the action with a combination of striking and takedowns that the Brazilian veteran had no answer for.
Fernandes made a slow start and Loman was able to capitalize by backing him up. Surprisingly it was the Filipino who looked to take the fight down.
The former champion tried to pick up the pace in the second round but couldn’t land a glove on Loman, The fight finished with the Filipino in top position throwing down punch after punch to leave the judges an extremely easy decision.
ONE on Prime Video 4, Singapore, November 19th
Christian Lee def. Kiamrian Abbasov via TKO (Elbows) at 4:20 of R4
Muay Thai: Rodtang Jitmuangnon def. Joseph Lasiri via Decision (Unanimous)
Stephen Loman def. Bibiano Fernandes via Decision (Unanimous)
Muay Thai: Cosmo Alexandre def. Juan Cervantes via TKO (Knees and elbow) at 1:23 of R2
Kim Jae Woong def. Kevin Belingon via TKO (Punches) at 2:33 of R1
Muay Thai: Jonathan Haggerty def. Vladimir Kuzmin via Decision (Majority) at 3:00 of R3
Ruslan Emilbek Uulu def. Isi Fitikefu via Decision (Split)
Submission Grappling: Danielle Kelly via def. Mariia Molchanova via Submission (Rear-naked choke)at 2:15 of R1
Muay Thai: Liam Nolan def. Eddie Abasolo via Decision (Unanimous)
