ONE Championship 118: Christian Lee hands Iuri Lapicus his first loss, retains lightweight title

ONE lightweight champion Christian Lee cemented his status as the promotion’s premier lightweight with a first-round finish of the previously undefeated Iuri Lapicus in Singapore.

Lee (14-3) put his lightweight title on the line against noted first-round finisher Lapicus (14-1) in the co-main event of “ONE Championship 118: Inside the Matrix,” which took place Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore, and the Hawaiian champion took the fight straight to the challenger from the opening bell.

Lee came flying out the gate and charged across the cage to deny the Moldovan any chance to compose himself, but the champion’s attempt to take the action to the ground ended with Lapicus turning the tables and taking Lee to the mat.

A series of scrambles ensued, with Lee eventually reversing position and ending up on top before the action returned to the feet. But the fight didn’t stay standing for long as Lee again closed the distance and took Lapicus to the ground with a body-lock takedown and swiftly moved into mount. Once there, the champion hammered the challenger until he gave up his back and took more ground strikes to the side of the head before the fight was waved off at the 2:19 mark.

Lee’s victory saw him extend his win streak to five, with four of those victories coming inside the distance.

Recap the best of the action via fight highlights and official photos below.