Christian Lee’s long-awaited return to motion at ONE Struggle Night time 26 got here to an abrupt finish resulting from an unintentional foul within the second spherical.
Getting into the primary occasion highlight contained in the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, Lee put his ONE light-weight MMA world championship on the road towards undefeated Dagestani standout Alibeg Rasulov within the night’s extremely anticipated headliner. It could be Lee’s first time competing since a November 2022 knockout of Kiamrian Abbasov to develop into a two-division champion — including the promotion’s welterweight title to his assortment of gold.
Regardless of being away from the game for greater than two years, Lee didn’t seem to have any ring rust as he instantly caught Rasulov with a jab that knocked the Dagestani wrestler off steadiness. A lot of the primary 5 minutes noticed Lee concentrating on Rasulov’s lead leg and seeking to join along with his patented proper hand.
Rasulov began to return alive within the second, repeatedly touchdown his personal proper hand, however his lead leg seemed to be compromised after Lee spent nearly all of the primary spherical concentrating on it. A more in-depth look revealed that Rasulov had a relatively nasty bruise simply above his knee that was barely obstructed by his struggle gear.
As we approached the ultimate 10 seconds of the second stanza, Lee inadvertently poked Rasulov within the eye throughout an trade prompting referee Herb Dean to pause the bout. As Rasulov was checked in his nook, the ringside doctor decided that he might not compete, forcing Dean to wave off the struggle and rule it an anticlimactic no contest.
Official Outcome: Christian Lee vs. Alibeg Rasulov is dominated a no-contest after an inadvertent eye-poke within the second spherical.
Try highlights from Christian Lee vs. Alibeg Rasulov at ONE Struggle Night time 26:
