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Exclusive: Christian Lee Believes He Can Defeat Shinya Aoki On The Ground

Newly-crowned ONE Championship lightweight champion Shinya Aoki has always marched to the beat of his own drum. So it was no surprise that following his first-round submission victory over Eduard Folayang at ONE: A New Era, the 35-year-old immediately began planning his first title defense. What was surprising, however, was of all the names he […]

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Newly-crowned ONE Championship lightweight champion Shinya Aoki has always marched to the beat of his own drum.

So it was no surprise that following his first-round submission victory over Eduard Folayang at ONE: A New Era, the 35-year-old immediately began planning his first title defense. What was surprising, however, was of all the names he could have called out from the ONE roster, the Japanese veteran chose featherweight title challenger Christian Lee.

Lee was as taken aback as the rest of MMA world when he got word of the callout.

“I had no idea that Aoki wanted to face me,” Lee recently told LowKickMMA.com.

“Shinya and I are good friends, and I had just congratulated him the day before I found out the news of him wanting to fight me. However, there is no bad blood between us, and I am honored to fight for his belt.”

The pair will clash on May 17, 2019, at ONE: Enter The Dragon from Singapore. Lee is unfazed about competing as a lightweight. He is also not concerned about the tight timeframe in which to put together his training camp

“It will not be a problem for me moving up a weight class as I typically walk around at 170 pounds. I train hard year-round, so I know that I will be ready come May 17.

The 20-year-old five-time Pankration world champion presents a type of threat that Aoki has not faced during his championship run. Aoki has built his recent success around his ability to control the action on the ground. However, Lee is a fighter who feels at home off his feet as he does on them.

“I know that Aoki is a dangerous opponent, but I trust in my skills, and I know that I can win this fight striking on the feet or grappling him on the ground.”

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong recently hinted that the Singapore-based promotion could hold an event in the United States in the future.

If this does happen, then one location which could be an option to host the promotion’s debut is Hawaii. The Aloha State is home to not only Christian and Angela Lee, but also Bruno Pucci and undefeated lightweight Lowen Tynanes. The idea of ONE taking their show to the 50th state is one that meets with Lee’s approval.

“I would love for ONE Championship to make their USA debut in Hawaii. The fight fans in Hawaii are extremely passionate about martial arts, and I know it would be a sellout show.

For now, though, all of Lee’s focus is centered around one goal; stopping Shinya Aoki.

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Demetrious Johnson Reveals Plans For MMA Retirement

Could Demetrious Johnson be calling it a career soon? Well, “Mighty Mouse” will hang his gloves up one day, but according to the 12-time UFC champion, that day won’t come for some time yet. The ONE Championship flyweight recently made his promotional debut at March 31’s A New Era. He submitted Yuya Wakamatsu with a […]

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Could Demetrious Johnson be calling it a career soon?

Well, “Mighty Mouse” will hang his gloves up one day, but according to the 12-time UFC champion, that day won’t come for some time yet.

The ONE Championship flyweight recently made his promotional debut at March 31’s A New Era. He submitted Yuya Wakamatsu with a brutal standing guillotine. The future is bright for him in ONE and he put his loss to Henry Cejudo behind him. Today, he opened up about how long he plans to stay fighting.

“I give myself five more years in mixed martial arts then I’m done,” Johnson said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (h/t bjpenn.com). “Five years, I’ll be 37, I’ll be old. At the end of the day, the biggest thing I’ll say, the difference… It’s been since 2011… Was the last time I fought at 135 [pounds]. And for me making this weight cut… Or weighing in at 135… My body’s being able to recover a lot faster.

“So who knows, I might be able to postpone five years to seven years because I’m not having to put my body through that traumatic weight cut to make 125.”

The former UFC champion then revealed that he didn’t want to get hurt by one big shot like Eddie Alvarez did in his ONE debut. Johnson planned to call it a day before he reached that time.

“It’s hard, man. For example, Eddie Alvarez, awesome dude, and to see what happened to him, it was one punch. It wasn’t a combination of punches, it was just one punch that landed in the right spot, hit him in the eye and I was like, ‘damn your eye is f*cked up,’ He could possibly go blind! One shot. So at the end of the day, man, why risk it? Why risk that happening to me if I can say, ‘you know what? You gotta cut it off at five years.’”

Five years is a long time in MMA. Especially in Japanese mixed martial arts where proportions are much more flexible with their contracted fighters. They often allow their fighters to compete in kickboxing, pro-wrestling, and grappling matches.

Johnson’s next bout will be in the ONE flyweight tournament. He will face the winner of the Tatsumitsu Wada vs. Gustavo Balart contest that takes place at ONE: Roots of Honor this Friday night, April 12, 2019.

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Sage Northcutt Comments On ONE Championship Debuts Of Demetrious Johnson & Eddie Alvarez

Sage Northcutt hasn’t made his ONE Championship debut yet, but two fellow former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters have. Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez made their ONE Championship debuts at the end of March in Tokyo, Japan. John…

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Tenshin Nasukawa Could Be Headed To ONE Championship

On the heels of the promotion’s biggest event, Tenshin Nasukawa may be on his way to ONE Championship. ONE Championship put on their biggest show to date last weekend, properly titled, ‘A New Era’. In many ways, it is a new era for the Asia-based promotion who debuted two of their highest profile free agent […]

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On the heels of the promotion’s biggest event, Tenshin Nasukawa may be on his way to ONE Championship.

ONE Championship put on their biggest show to date last weekend, properly titled, ‘A New Era’. In many ways, it is a new era for the Asia-based promotion who debuted two of their highest profile free agent signings in company history in Eddie Alvarez & Demetrious Johnson.

The night also saw Angela Lee take her first professional loss. Both Bibiano Fernandes and Shinya Aoki took home gold. Fernandes regained the bantamweight title from Kevin Belington amid controversy.

There were plenty of celebrities in attendee as well. One in particular was RIZIN Fighting Federation’s Nasukawa, who sat cageside taking in the nights action.

During the A New Era post-fight press conference, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong was asked about the possibility of signing the teenage striking sensation (via APMMA):

“Tenshin was in the audience in the first row, and he has definitely expressed his opinion – privately and publicly – that he would like to join ONE Championship”, Sityodtong said (transcript via onefc.com).

“He does want to face Rodtang again, so I’m very excited to hold that fight in the future.”

Nasukawa currently lives in Singapore and trains at EVOLVE MMA. It seems like a perfect fit for both the fighter and promotion.

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Eddie Alvarez Releases First Statement Following TKO Loss, Shows Off Gruesome Eye Injury

Eddie Alvarez is making no excuses for his shocking first round loss to Timofey Nastyukhin in his ONE Championship debut this past weekend in Japan. Alvarez, who signed with the Singapore based promotion after entering free agency last year, was the fa…

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ONE Championship CEO Teases Possibly Signing Tenshin Nasukawa

ONE Championship continues to try and make big moves to elevate their brand. After signing the likes of Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson, CEO Chatri Sityodtong wants to continue adding notable names. After a tremendous ONE: A New Era event in Japan…

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