By Jim Edwards

For ONE Championship featherweight Christian Lee, age is just a number.

The 18-year-old phenom is looking to take his record to 6-0 next month against Martin Nguyen at "ONE: Heroes Of The World" on August 13.

Lee has been nothing short of impressive in his first five outings inside the ONE Championship cage. His growing skill set boasts unorthodox and unpredictable striking techniques, as well as technical grappling and creative submission maneuvers. 

His toughest match yet

Undefeated in his first five professional bouts, all of his wins have come inside the distance with three knockouts and two submissions. His next opponent, Martin Nguyen, will be his toughest yet.

"Martin has got some very decent experience in ONE Championship," Lee said. "He's fought already for the ONE Championship featherweight title against the champion, Marat [Gafurov] but he didn't last long. 

"I think he's a great opponent, though, and he's exactly the sort of guy I wanted because he has that championship experience already. I'm looking forward to fighting him, but I know he's a tough guy. I'm also super excited to be fighting in Macau. I've never been there before so I'm looking forward to going to a new place and it's always a pleasure to get to go new places and show what I can do."

Nguyen is a 27-year-old Australian who fights out of the KMA Top Team camp. Despite being nine years older than Lee, Nguyen has only fought in two more professional contests with a record of 6-1; his only loss coming in the aforementioned bout with ONE Championship champion Marat Gafurov.

"I've been watching him and he's pretty aggressive," Lee said. "He's got good technique and he likes coming forward and being the aggressor. I'm just going to break him down and I know he's not going to be able to handle my pressure. When it comes down to it, I just know that he's not going to be able to handle what I bring to him."

'I'm relentless... don't blink'

Despite his impressive record of stoppage victories so far, Lee has still been working hard on improving himself at both United MMA in Hawaii and Evolve MMA in Singapore. 

"Ever since my fight with Rocky [Batolbatol] in May, I've just been working on completely revamping my game," Lee said. "I've been training my butt off, and on August 13, I'm hoping that I'm going to be able to showcase a whole different fighter inside of that cage.

"The people that tune in will see a fast-paced, action-packed fight with zero rest. I'm relentless. If you are going to watch my fight, don't blink, because there are going to be some big fireworks going down."



After racking up five victories in about five months since his debut in December 2015, Lee took some time off this month to enjoy a family holiday in Las Vegas.

"That was so nice," Lee said. "It was just a little bit of downtime with my family and just a little bit of steadiness after fighting hard. It was nice to have a week to kick back and just spend a little time with my family. It was great."

Back to the grind

Although he enjoyed a little time off, Lee's relentless pursuit of his dream sent him get straight back to United MMA, where he does the majority of his training.

"I don't spend as much time in Singapore at Evolve MMA, but whenever I go there, I really try to make the most of it," Lee said. "I get to train with world-class strikers, world-class grapplers and just the level of expertise in the room and the rounds I get to do are just amazing. 

"Back home in Hawaii at United, we are just always working hard, man. My Dad, my team around me, even the local fighters, we really just push each other and train hard for the next fight."

Lee isn't lying when he says he works hard. The 18-year-old takes part in multiple training sessions per day, Monday through Saturday.

"I don't have many days off," Lee said. "I'm just working super hard, trying to upgrade all my skills right now. Everyone needs to be aware of what is going on in Hawaii. There are a lot of up-and-coming fighters in my gym at the moment. The world just hasn't seen them yet, but they will shortly. I'm looking forward to everyone seeing that."

A growing public profile

In Asia, the Lees are quickly becoming the faces of mixed martial arts under the ONE Championship banner. While some fighters aren't always happy to have their public profiles raised, Christian and his sister Angela have always been nothing much appreciative of the support they've received. 

"Every now and then, we'll do something like go to get some food and people will stop us and ask for pictures," Lee said. "I like it; it's nice. I truly appreciate all the love and support from my fans. At the end of the day, I'm just an ordinary guy. I'm just the same guy I was before I started fighting. If people are going to take the time to stop and ask me for a picture, then I'm truly, absolutely honored."

Growing his public profile couldn't be further from Lee's mind right now though. For the minute his focus is on beating Martin Nyguen and making sure he does it in headline-stealing fashion.

"Every fight is performance-based," Lee said. "If all goes well and I can come out with a devastating finish over Martin, then I'm hoping that I can then face someone at least in the top five in the featherweight division. Martin was a former title challenger himself, so if I can tear through him the same way Marat did, then I'm hoping I will be on track for a title shot. I'm not taking anything for granted, though. 

"I just want to let my fans know I'm training my butt off for this. I'm working harder than ever, and come August 13, I'm going to show everyone a new-and-improved version of Christian Lee."