Christian Lee Exclusive: ONE 160 main eventer talks huge rematch, Usman vs Edwards 2, training with Angela Lee, Amazon Prime and more

Former ONE Championship Lightweight MMA Champion Christian Lee is set to fight for retribution when he gets a rematch against the man who took his belt, Ok Rae Yoon, on Friday, August 26th at ONE Championship 160, and we had the opportunity to speak exclusively to the Canadian–American mixed martial artist ahead of this epic contest.

The Lightweight division in ONE FC has a limit of 170-pounds, the same as the UFC Welterweight division, and Lee looks to cement his place in the pantheon of great Welterweights such as Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards, Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz, just from his home in the Singapore-based promotion.

Lee has an incredible pedigree for the fight game, as his family, including ONE Champion Atomweight MMA Champion Angela Lee, have been working alongside him for many years to help complete what is now a well-rounded mixed martial arts style of the former Pankration specialist!

Here is what Christian Lee had to say ahead of his massive ONE Championship 160 contest regarding Angela Lee, Kamaru Usman, Amazon Prime and more.

ONE Lightweight Championship Rematch

Image Credit: ONE Championship

GMS: You’ll be facing Ok Rae Yoon this Friday in a huge rematch for the ONE FC Lightweight Championship. The first bout ended with a controversial decision and you were visibly unhappy, has it been difficult to control that emotion in your training and prep for the rematch?

Christian Lee: You know, initially I was very upset with the decision but you know, it's been almost a year now. I have…I no longer have any hard feelings toward the decision. You know, for me it is what it is. I'm just making sure that this time around I’m not gonna leave it in the judge’s hands.

ONE on Amazon Prime

Image Credit: ONE Championship

GMS: This is arguably the biggest weekend in the history of ONE FC, do you feel extra pressure going into the 160 main event with the hype surrounding the start of the Amazon Prime deal just one night after, or is it just a case of keeping your head down and business as usual?

Christian Lee: You know, I’m happy that this is gonna be a big weekend for ONE Championship. But for me, it's just business as usual. I'm extremely focused just on the task at hand and that's all I'm thinking about right now.

Lee vs Ok Rae Yoon 1

Image Credit: ONE Championship

GMS: The original bout against Ok Rae Yoon went the full five rounds, do you feel like you got a good insight into your opponent’s skillset and where you could potentially exploit some weaknesses, and were you able to assess his skills enough to bring in like-for-like sparring partners ahead of this rematch?

Christian Lee: Yes, definitely. Throughout the 25 Minute fight, you know, I feel like both of us have gotten to know each other quite well. So I'm definitely going to be prepared for what he has to offer and I think he's going to be you know, fairly prepared for me as well.

But I did manage to get very good training partners for this camp. I flew in a good friend who I've been working with for some time now, a high-level wrestler in America, his name is Shakur Rasheed. He's a tall, strong wrestler and great for working via the grappling portion and preparing for Ok.

Then I have my usual training partners who I was able to get in. My good friend Spencer, who lives up one island away, was able to fly down almost every week for this fight camp.

So you know, it’s a big help to have guys like that just dedicated to helping me prepare for my fight during camp.

It’s definitely a big change from the last time around where, you know, I've touched on it before in previous interviews; I really feel like I didn't have the proper preparation I needed for a world title fight.

So this time around, I made sure that was something I changed, that I had all the necessary rounds in and had all the sparring partners that needed to get myself ready for this fight.

Physical and Mental Prep

Christian Lee in the Circle ONE Championship

Image Credit: ONE Championship

GMS: We’re now into fight week, how are you feeling mentally and physically heading into this massive rematch?

Christian Lee: Mentally and physically? I feel better than ever. Just you know, with my experience in fighting all these years and in the training camp leading up to this fight [it all helps]. Everything is coming together nicely and I feel the most ready that I've ever felt.

Angela Lee

Image Credit: ONE Championship

GMS: You’re part of an incredible martial arts family, with yourself and Angela Lee being the first brother-sister World Champion combo in MMA. How involved do you get in each other’s fight camps?

Christian Lee: We do what we can to be there for each other during our fight camps. But it's different now. You know, back when we were kids, of course, we would see each other in the gym every day. Now we both have our own families. So we're both understanding of that, and that things get busy.

But at times like this, when I was preparing for my fight and Angela was just starting to get ready for her fight camp, we were in the gym every day, it’s just like old times and training together for our fights.

Usman vs Edwards 2

Leon Edwards is the new UFC welterweight champion

GMS: The UFC saw an incredible knockout in the 170-pound division this past weekend, how do you picture your own massive knockout going this Friday?

Christian Lee: You know in the fight game you never want to call for a knockout! You know, you always want to just let it happen. But, I do feel like I'm going to finish him and I plan on doing so on the first round.

ONE FC vs UFC?

Image Credit: ONE Championship

GMS: We’ve seen the UFC and ONE Championship complete a trade deal in the past, if you had to opportunity to bring over a UFC Welterweight to fight in the Lightweight division of ONE, who would that be?

Christian Lee: Well, you know, before this past weekend, I would have said Kamaru Usman, but you know now I guess it would be Leon Edwards. If there was one guy to fight coming over from the UFC, I'd only want the best.

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