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‘The rules are different here,’ Abbasov warns Lee ahead of welterweight world title tie
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Kiamrian Abbasov.
O
NE welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov will face an undeniably difficult opponent when he takes on lightweight king Christian Lee on Nov. 19 at ONE Fight Night 4.
“Brazen” will defend his welterweight strap against Lee in a “champ versus champ” headliner at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The 29-year-old has faced some hard hitters with heavy power on his run through the welterweight division and he’s confident “The Warrior” won’t be prepared for his well-rounded skill set.
“He’s a good opponent. He’s a good, explosive fighter, but I know his weaknesses and I am not a guy from his division, the rules are different here,” Abbasov said.
“I prefer not to rely only on my wrestling. If he will feel like trading punches, he is welcome. That is what we like to do. But if he feels brave enough to wrestle, then I can take him to deep waters and we will see who has more oxygen.”
Abbasov is 4-1 in the welterweight division. He won the world title in October 2019, defeating Zebaztian Kadestam at ONE: DAWN OF VALOR and returned to successfully defend his gold against James Nakashima just over a year later.
“Brazen” holds a career record of 23-5 with 15 wins coming by finish and his 75 percent finishing rate proves that he knows how to get the job done.
Read also: Three reasons why you shouldn’t miss Lee Versus Abbasov at ONE Fight Night 4Lee’s record is just as intimidating. He has earned all but one of his wins inside the circle and has a staggering 16-2 slate.
This fails to faze the defending world champion as this fight will be a new challenge for “The Warrior.” Abbasov knows how difficult it is to move up a division as he did it himself in his unsuccessful quest to take Reinier de Ridder’s ONE middleweight world title earlier this year.
With that said, the 29-year-old star is not counting on Lee succumbing to such issues ahead of their world title tussle. Instead, he has decided to prepare himself for anything the Singaporean-American superstar will throw his way.
“When I was moving up a level [to middleweight], I lacked some skills, which I am working hard on now. Everybody has a chance. This is going to be the type of fight where you cannot predict anything and you definitely cannot underestimate your opponent, even if he is coming from the lightweight division. It is all about character, willpower and determination. We will see if he can show it in the cage. I am ready,” he said.
ONE Fight Night 4 lead card will be broadcast live on NETVERSE, Vidio, Kaskus TV and MAXstream at 8 a.m. Western Indonesia Time (WIB) on Saturday, November 19. The main card will follow on NETVERSE, Vidio.com, Kaskus TV and MAXstream at 10 a.m. WIB.
Also, NET TV will air a same-day delay at 10:30 p.m. WIB.
This article was published in collaboration with ONE Championship.
