HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese-Australian featherweight and lightweight World Champion Martin Nguyen will defend his coveted featherweight belt against top contender Christinan ‘The Warrior’ Lee in mid-May in Singapore.

It will be a rematch for the two sides at the ONE Championship, the Asian No 1 competition of mixed martial arts.

Nguyen, known as ‘The Situ-Asian’, defeated Singaporean Lee in a bout that was held nearly a year and a half ago. Nguyen stopped Lee’s meteoric rise in the featherweight ranks, and handed him his first professional blemish via the guillotine choke.

After their first meet, both athletes have fought different bouts with varying results.

Nguyen knocked out step by step Japan’s two-division Deep Champion Kazunori Yokota last January and ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard ’Landslide’ Folayang of the Philippines three months later.

In March, Nguyen lost a razor-thin split decision to ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano ‘The Flash’ Fernandes of Brazil.

He is expected to seek revenge against Dagestan’s Marat ’Cobra’ Gafurov this August.

Lee took an eight-month break after his loss to Nguyen to recharge his batteries, enjoy life and improve his skills.

He returned last April and knocked out ‘The Wereworf’ Wan Jian Ping of China, Malaysian star Keanu Subba and former ONE Lightweight World Champion Kotetsu Boku of South Korea. — VNS