ONE Championship: Christian Lee lays down law to Iuri Lapicus ahead of lightweight title clash at Inside the Matrix
- ‘The Warrior’ puts lightweight title on the line as part of blockbuster Singapore card on October 30
- ‘Every fighter has that time when they face that first defeat and for Iuri this is going to be his,’ says Lee
Twelve months must seem like an eternity when you’re young, and you’ve just started making your mark on the world.
So spare a thought for 22-year-old Christian “The Warrior” Lee (13-3), who has waited more than a year to make the first official defence of his ONE Championship lightweight title. And then maybe spare another thought for Iuri Lapicus (14-0), who is likely to bear the brunt of all Lee’s pent-up frustrations at Inside the Matrix in Singapore on October 30,
“Every fighter has that time when they face that first defeat and for Iuri this is going to be his,” Lee told SCMP MMA.
“With the momentum from his last two finishes I feel like he’s going to come out guns blazing, trying to take my head off. I’m fully ready for that. I’m excited. I feel like he’s really going to bring the fight to me but that’s what I crave. That’s what I love the most and it’s what I have been waiting for over this past year, every single day.”
Lee claimed the lightweight belt with a demolition job of veteran Japanese star Shinya Aoki (45-9, one no contest) in Singapore last May. The Hawaii-based fighter took the gig after a surprise call-out from Aoki and then surprised many again by first escaping the clutches of a “Tobikan Judan” armbar, then laying Aoki out for the TKO in the second round.
Lee had fought for a title before – at what had been his more natural featherweight – and lost via split decision to Vietnamese-Australian champ Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen (13-3) in 2018.