UFC Champion Islam Makhachev Reacts To Call-Out From ONE Championship's Christian Lee
![Islam Makhachev](https://d.ibtimes.com/en/full/3155192/islam-makhachev.jpg?w=736&f=2534daa0a793696194429ef36a432090)
KEY POINTS
- UFC champion Islam Makhachev has responded to Christian Lee's call-out on social media
- Makhachev trains with ONE Championship's lightweight contender Saygid Izagakhmaev
- Lee currently holds ONE Championship's lightweight and welterweight titles
There's no denying that Christian "The Warrior" Lee is one of the best fighters under the ONE Championship banner today.
Already the Singapore-based combat sports promotion's lightweight titleholder, Lee added another belt to his collection last weekend, defeating Kiamrian Abbasov to capture the vacant welterweight title and become just the fourth "champ-champ" mixed martial artist in ONE Championship history.
Now, Lee wants to test himself against the best in the world, specifically a newly-crowned UFC lightweight champion in the form of Islam Makhachev.
Makhachev dominated Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 back in October to claim the UFC's vacant lightweight strap and extend his winning streak to 11 matches.
During the ONE on Prime Video 4 post-fight interview, Lee revealed that he received a challenge from Makhachev before "The Warrior" added that he would very much be willing to compete in a cross-promotion bout.
"I saw a recent video where a fellow competitor over in the UFC, Islam Makhachev, called me out," Lee said. "He's inviting me over to the UFC to fight him for his lightweight title. I would love to make that fight happen. Let's see it."
"Let's do a cross-promotion event: lightweight world champion from UFC against lightweight world champion from ONE Championship. We'll see who's the real best lightweight in the world," he continued.
Makhachev responded to Lee's call-out on Twitter and reminded him that there's a pretty scary challenger waiting for him in ONE Championship's lightweight division.
Ha! You better focus on your next contender Saygid Izagakhmaev, and we will see how good you are 😉 https://t.co/I2oAHCZvsA
— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) November 21, 2022
Makhachev is, of course, talking about his teammate and fellow Russian Saygid Izagakhmaev, who's currently making a name for himself under the ONE Championship banner.
Like Makhachev, Izagakhmaev is a protege of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Izagakhmaev has taken ONE Championship by storm, notching impressive wins over James Nakashima and Zhang Lipeng.
Over the weekend at ONE 163, Izagakhmaev picked up the biggest win of his career, knocking out former ONE lightweight titleholder Shinya Aoki in the first round.
The win over Aoki solidified Izagakhmaev's position as a top contender in the lightweight division and likely the next man in line to vie for Lee's intricately-crafted hardware.
From what fans and experts have seen with Izagakhmaev so far, he definitely poses a real threat to Lee's reign atop the stacked weight class.
If Lee could get past Izagakhmaev, maybe Makhachev would consider the ONE Championship star's call-out.
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