ONE Championship: Christian Lee still eager to ‘get a win over Eddie Alvarez’ after Ok Rae-yoon rematch
- Lee will challenge Ok for lightweight gold in the main event of ONE 160 on August 26 in Singapore
- If he is victorious, he believes he could ‘cross paths’ with former UFC champ Alvarez, as ONE looks to ‘break into the US market’
Christian Lee is still hoping for the opportunity to fight former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in the ONE Championship Circle.
Alvarez signed with ONE in late 2018, and was quickly touted as a potential opponent for the Canadian-born American Lee, who long ruled over the promotion’s lightweight division.
Three years later, the 38-year-old American still has not met Lee in the cage, having had his momentum derailed by a pair of losses to Timofey Nastyukhin and Ok Rae-yoon. But Lee is still holding out hope.
“I think it would be great to get a win over Eddie,” Lee told the Post on Thursday. “He’s a very accomplished fighter and he’s won belts in multiple organisations, and he’s definitely going to go down as a legend in this sport. So definitely a fight I’d like to make happen.”
Lee is no longer the ONE lightweight champion, having surrendered the belt to the aforementioned Ok via controversial decision last September.
He is set to rematch the new champion at ONE 160 on August 26 in Singapore, and if he wins, he believes Alvarez could be among his first challengers – provided the veteran can pick up a solid win.
“I think so,” Lee said when asked if Alvarez could earn a title shot with a win. “[ONE] is trying to break into the US market. Eddie is definitely a guy they want to go for the title. I would love to see him fight for the title.