“Speed and accuracy beats power,” is the mantra 22-year-old ONE Championship lightweight champion Christian Lee (15-3) said in the cage after quickly disposing of third-ranked Timofey Nastyukin (14-5) by TKO just 1:13 into their world title bout to headline ONE on TNT II from Singapore Indoor Stadium. The young face of ONE Championship added to his aura of star power by making quick work of a game opponent in the Russian in Nastyukin and has now rattled off five-straight wins in a division at 155 pounds that is one of the deepest divisions worldwide regardless of promotion.
For Timofey Nastyukin, he was looking to replicate his first-round finish of Eddie Alvarez against the champion Lee, but it was that was able to land a check hook and flip the script on the overextending Nastyukin, eventually closing the show via the ground and pound.
The bigger picture coming out of Wednesday’s card is that the Lee last name holds a lot of weight in ONE, as Christian’s older sister Angela is the current ONE Atomweight champion, and younger sister Victoria recently debuted for ONE at just 16-years-old. The Lee family could be a crucial part of building a fanbase amongst the American fans, as their ability to speak English could help the Singapore-based promotion turn heads on their new broadcast partner in TNT.
Co-Main Event: #2 Janet Todd def. Anne Line Hogstad
The first of two fights to air on TNT was ONE Championship showcasing its Atomweight Muay Thai division as American Janet Todd was able to finish Norwegian Anne Line Hogstad via body kick 1:36 into the third. ONE Championship airs Kickboxing and Muay Thai along with MMA, and in this case showcased a division in Atomweight (105 pounds) that is not present in American based promotions such as the UFC and Bellator. The fight itself gave us a high paced effort from the American Todd, who was spraying her kicks amongst Hogstad’s calves, chest, and head until eventually dropping Hogstad with a surgically placed liver shot which stopped the bout. The dominant showing by Janet Todd, who also has a degree in aerospace engineering, had her calling for the names of the only two contenders ahead of her in the promotional rankings: current champion Allycia Hellen Rodrigues and the number one contender Stamp Fairtex who she has split wins and loses with in their first two meetings.
The cards keep coming from ONE Championship as next Wednesday ONE on TNT III airs with bantamweights John Lineker and Tony Worthen clash in the main event, while in the co-main event flyweights square off as Reece Mclaren meets Yuma Wakamatsu.
(Cover Photo: ONE Championship)
コメント