Despite late entry, Christian Lee sees no illegitimacy if he wins ONE grand prix

Lightweight champion Christian Lee jumped straight into the ONE Championship 155-pound grand prix. He didn’t have to fight in the first or second rounds.

When Eddie Alvarez withdrew due to injury at ONE Championship 100, Lee (12-3 MMA) stepped in on a week’s notice to take on Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev (8-1 MMA).

The event takes place Saturday at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

Despite showing up late to the party, Lee thinks fans should have no qualms about his entry. If he defeats Arslanaliev on Saturday, he has no issue calling himself the legitimate tournament winner.

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Lee argued Arslanaliev is the only tournament participant who earned his standing – with injuries forcing other fighters to be replaced by already-eliminated fighters.

“With this grand prix, a lot of the fans are getting a bit confused with this,” Lee told MMA Junkie. “On one hand, it is true that I was not in the grand prix. But every other competitor in the grand prix besides ‘Dagi’ himself was taken out of the grand prix due to injury or a loss and was able to jump back into the grand prix. So in my opinion, ‘Dagi’ is the only one who earned his spot to the finals.”

According to Lee, Alvarez’s late withdrawal posed some issues for the promotion, which struggled to find a replacement. Despite already holding the ONE title, Lee didn’t hesitate to save the day.

“They were looking for a last-minute replacement for this fight after Eddie Alvarez got injured, and there was no one that was able to make it to Japan on time due to visa issues or just wasn’t a high-enough contender for that spot,” Lee said. “I was the last person that they called for it. Typically, the champ would not step into the grand prix to fight for his own belt. But I didn’t want to see that fight scrapped from the show and I wanted to make it happen.”

Like Lee, all of Arslanaliev’s ONE victories have ended inside the distance. With 19 combined finishes between him and his opponent, Lee doesn’t see this fight going the distance.

“I’m expecting ‘Dagi’ to come out and do what he does to every single one of his opponents, which is come out fast, hard, and look for a quick finish,” Lee said. “I think this matchup is going to make for a very exciting fight because we’re both proven finishers.

“… There’s no way this fight is going to the judges and I think the fans in Tokyo are in for a great fight.”