ONE Championship: Christian Lee TKOs Timofey Nastyukhin in 73 seconds to retain lightweight title
- ‘The Warrior’ makes quick work of Russian knockout artist in the ONE on TNT 2 main event in Singapore
- ‘It was the most important fight of my life,’ says 22-year-old Lee, who has now taken out top four contenders in his division
If there was anyone out there still doubting Christian Lee, surely they have been silenced now.
“The Warrior” (15-3) put in the most impressive performance of his extraordinary young career, making light work of Timofey Nastyukhin (14-5) at ONE on TNT 2, which was recorded last week in Singapore and broadcast on Thursday morning.
The ONE Championship lightweight king cemented his legacy – at just 22 years old – in the Asian promotion with a 73-second TKO of the Russian knockout artist.
It was Nastyukhin who ruined former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez’s ONE debut in March 2019, before injury ruled him out of the lightweight grand prix semi-finals, but he was made to look one dimensional here.
“I had 10 hard weeks leading up to this, it was the most important fight of my life,” Lee told Mitch Chilson in his post-fight interview in the Circle.
“Very soon I’m gonna become a father, so this fight is dedicated to my baby girl on the way and my wife back home. It was very hard to go away and leave them but later this month we’re having our first baby.”