Timofey Nastyukhin aims for first-round knockout of champ Christian Lee at ONE on TNT II

Lightweight slugger Timofey Nastyukhin makes no secret to his gameplan when he enters the cage: He’s coming to turn off your lights.

Ahead of his shot at ONE Championship’s lightweight title, he’s not changing a single thing as he prepare for reigning titleholder Christian Lee.

“Of course I want to end it Round 1,” Nastyukhin said. “Finish him in a nice way, a spectacular knockout. That’s my style.”

Nastyukhin (14-4) and champ Lee (14-3) meet in the headlining bout of Wednesday’s ONE on TNT II event, which airs live on TNT from Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Brother of ONE atomweight champion Angela Lee, the 22-year-old Christian Lee claimed the belt with a 2019 win over MMA legend Shinya Aoki. Later that year, he also stepped in as a replacement grand prix finalist and claimed that belt, as well, with a decision win over a gritty Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev.

But those performances haven’t been enough to impress Nastyukhin.

“He’ still very young, Christian Lee,” Nastyukhin said. “His time will come, but right now, it’s my time.”

Lee has become one of ONE’s most recognizable figures, through both the quality of his recent performances, as well as his family’s pedigree. But Nastyukhin is used to being overlooked. After all, he was the one selected to welcome former UFC and Bellator champ Eddie Alvarez to ONE Championship back in 2019.

Nastyukhin won that fight via first-round TKO.

“Everyone was saying Eddie was a champion – UFC, Bellator – that he’s going for a third belt, looking past me,” Nastyukhin said. “Eddie himself said it, that he’s coming for the belt and it didn’t matter who he was facing. But I’m used to it, used to being the underdog. That’s how it’s always been.”

At 4-1 in his past five outings, and with 11 of his 14 career wins coming by way of stoppage, Nastyukhin certainly has what it takes to win the fight. The 31-year-old Russian believes that’s exactly what’s going to happen, and he wants to do it in violent fashion.

“The best outcome would be a first-round knockout,” Nastyukhin said.