ONE Championship: Rasulov wants Lee fight after gruelling win over Ok Rae-yoon
- Alibeg Rasulov claims unanimous decision win at ONE Fight Night 23 and turns his attention to lightweight title holder Christian Lee
Alibeg Rasulov said he was “ready for Christian Lee” after earning a gruelling decision win over Ok Rae-yoon at ONE Fight Night 23 on Saturday.
The Turkish fighter did enough damage over five intense rounds to win the fight, even if his failure to make weight or pass the hydration tests meant only former MMA lightweight champion Ok had the chance to win the belt up for grabs.
Battling for the interim lightweight title at Lumpinee Stadium in the night’s headline bout, the decisive moment came in the fourth round, when Rasulov cut his opponent’s face open with a series of elbows, bring a doctor the ring.
The bout had started slowly, with Rasulov forcing Ok to constantly defend takedown attempts in the early rounds. The South Korean looked dangerous with low kicks and punching combinations, but struggled to maintain the distance required to land them.
Ok must have sensed he was behind heading into the fifth and final round, but Rasulov was relentless and trapped him against the ropes before landing a spinning back elbow in the break.
He landed another elbow at close quarters and a clear winner was starting to emerge, with ONE Championship fights scored as a whole rather than round by round. The South Korean looked to turn things around with a final flurry of punches but couldn’t land anything clean.
