Christian Lee Becomes Two-Division Champion By Beating Kiamrian Abbasov At ONE On Prime Video 4

Reigning ONE lightweight titleholder Christian Lee understood the opportunity that he was being presented with in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 4 on Saturday, November 19 (Friday, November 18 in the United States).

Becoming a two-division world champion is one of the most prestigious honors an athlete can have in the sport of mixed martial arts, which gave Lee more than enough reason to seize the moment and reach new heights in his professional career.

In front of a capacity crowd at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Lee changed his status to dual champion by defeating Kiamrian Abbasov via fourth-round technical knockout to capture the vacant ONE welterweight championship.

As the only man eligible to walk away with the available welterweight strap following Abbasov's mishap on the scales yesterday, Lee laid it all on the line to register his name in the promotion's history books.

However, it was not a walk in the park for Lee, who had to endure an initial onslaught from Abbasov in the opening frame of the clash.

Abbasov came out firing solid combinations that stunned Lee and almost gave referee Herb Dean a valid reason to intervene and wave it off, but the Singaporean-American sensation proved that there was no quit in him and established some form of reprieve.

Lee finally came alive in the second round and chose not to let go of the driver's seat, putting pressure on Abbasov by landing cleaner and more powerful blows.

Moreover, "The Warrior" displayed his expertise in the grappling department, imposing his will whenever he shot for a takedown and secured dominant positions on the mat.

As the encounter wore on, Abbasov opted to lay back and counter. This prompted Lee to turn up the volume of his offense.

The fourth frame featured more back-and-forth action, with each competitor having their moments. But it was towards the end of the period when Lee smelled some blood when he turn Abbasov with a myriad of lashing leg kicks.

Noticing that Abbasov's mobility was stricken, Lee immediately closed the distance and hammered a torrent of vicious elbow strikes.

As Abbasov lost his balance and hit the canvas, Lee followed through by teeing off with a torrent of unforgiving strikes. This time around, Dean—the third man inside the cage—was convinced that he had seen enough and called a halt to the contest with 40 seconds remaining in the fourth round.

By pulling off the upset against Abbasov, Lee upgraded his professional record to 17-4 and claimed his 12th career win by knockout.

Lee likewise joined Martin Nguyen, Aung La N Sang and Reinier de Ridder in the elite cast of prizefighters who has held world titles in two different weight class simultaneously under the ONE Championship banner.

On the other hand, Abbasov dropped to a 23-6 standing.

In other matches slated on the main card, Rodtang Jitmuangnon kept his ONE flyweight Muay Thai championship around his waist by putting together a masterclass against strawweight titleholder Joseph Lasiri to notch a crystal-clear unanimous decision win.

Meanwhile, Cosmo Alexandre authored a promotional return to remember as he knocked out Juan Cervantes with a crisp right hand and a follow-up elbow strike in the second round of their welterweight Muay Thai joust.

Then, Alexandre was awarded with a $50,000 performance bonus for his rousing performance against Cervantes.