Eye Poke Spoils Christian Lee vs. Alibeg Rasulov Main Event at ONE Fight Night 26

The highly-anticipated title bout ended late in the second round.

(ONE Championship)

Two-division ONE Championship titleholder Christian Lee returned to action for the first time in more than two years when he headlined ONE Fight Night 26 opposite Alibeg Rasulov.

Lee vs. Rasulov Ends After Eye Poke

ONE Championship's final event of 2024 took place at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and in addition to the headlining lightweight title bout between Lee and Rasulov the card also featured a rematch between Mayssa Bastos and Danielle Kelly for Bastos' ONE Women's Atomweight Submission Grappling title.

ONE Fight Night 26 Live Results & Highlights – Christian Lee vs. Alibeg Rasulov

The night's headlining bout was Lee's first fight since taking Kiamrian Abbasov's welterweight belt at ONE Fight Night 4 in 2022 to become a two-division champion, while Rasulov entered the matchup after defeating former titleholder Ok Rae Yoon in his promotional debut in July.

Some fans were surprised to see Rasulov as the betting favorite to take Lee's lightweight title at ONE Fight Night 26, and following nearly two rounds of high-paced action the fight unfortunately ended in a No Contest after Lee inadvertently poked the challenger in the eye and the ringside doctor called the fight off.

CRISP combo from Christian Lee 👏

Watch the full ONE Fight Night 26 event replay:
🇺🇸🇨🇦 on Prime 👉 Link in bio
🌍 on https://t.co/eBUfsOlZOd (geo-restrictions may apply) pic.twitter.com/yLc1efwik1

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 7, 2024

Christian Lee and Alibeg Rasulov’s ONE Lightweight MMA World Title clash ends in a no contest after an inadvertent eye poke. Would you like to see a rematch?

Watch the full ONE Fight Night 26 event replay:
🇺🇸🇨🇦 on Prime 👉 https://t.co/jm4MXdtcn4
🌍 on https://t.co/eBUfsOlZOd… pic.twitter.com/yMJhkvZBmP

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 7, 2024

The disappointing result spoiled both Lee's return and Rasulov's title bid, and presumably ONE Championship will look to rebook the matchup sometime in early 2025 and allow the two lightweights to settle what was shaping up to be an incredible fight.

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Standout results at ONE Fight Night 26 included Reece McLaren's upset-win against Jarred Brooks, as well as the successful promotional debuts of grappling stars Dante Leon and Cole Abate in their matchups with Bruno Pucci and MMA legend Shinya Aoki.

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