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ONE Championship: Kiamrian Abbasov warns Christian Lee ‘the rules are different’ at welterweight

  • Lightweight MMA champ Lee will challenge Abbasov for welterweight gold at ONE on Prime Video 4 on November 19 in Singapore.
  • Welterweight champion says opponent is ‘a good, explosive fighter’ but aims to take him to deep waters – ‘I know his weaknesses’

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Kiamrian Abbasov at the ONE: Full Circle ceremonial weigh-ins. Photos: ONE Championship.

Kiamrian Abbasov believes Christian Lee is making a mistake moving up to the ONE Championship welterweight division.

Lee, the promotion’s lightweight champion, will make his welterweight debut in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 4 on November 19 in Singapore, challenging Abbasov for the division’s title.

If he wins, he will become one of just a few two-division champs in ONE history, but that is not the way Abbasov sees things going.

Christian Lee celebrates with his wife and daughter after reclaiming the ONE lightweight title with a TKO of Ok Rae-yoon.
Christian Lee celebrates with his wife and daughter after reclaiming the ONE lightweight title with a TKO of Ok Rae-yoon.

“Christian is a good opponent,” the Kyrgyzstani welterweight, 29, said. “He is a good, explosive fighter, but I know his weaknesses and I am not a guy from his division – the rules are different here.”

Lee, 26, has proven himself as one of ONE’s top fighters, with impressive wins over lightweight contenders like Ok Rae-yoon, Timofey Nastyukhin, Saygid “Dagi” Arslanaliev and Shinya Aoki.

While Abbasov likes his chances against the Canadian-American lightweight champion, he also recognises that the match-up comes with its share of risks.

“Everybody has a chance,” he said. “This is going to be the type of a fight where you cannot predict anything and you definitely cannot underestimate your opponent.”

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