Aoki (left) and Lee (photo via ONE Championship)

By FCF Staff

ONE Championship’s “Enter the Dragon” card is taking place this Friday in Singapore, and recently the promotion held the event’s media day.

In Friday’s headliner, lightweight champ Shinya Aoki will battle challenger, Christian Lee. The card will also see UFC vet Sage Northcutt make his promotional debut versus Cosmo Alexandre.

Here is some of what the aforementioned fighters had to say about their upcoming bouts, during media day (quotes via press release):

Shinya Aoki, ONE Lightweight World Champion, stated: “I called out Christian [Lee] because I think he is the best, not only in Asia, but in the world. He is a hungry young lion and very dangerous. But right now is the best time to hunt the lion down. I’ve trained with him in the past and we know each other well. He’s very strong, fast, and explosive. Our styles match up quite well and I think this is going to be a good challenge for me.”

Christian Lee, ONE World Title Challenger, stated: “At the end of the day, it’s just going to be me and Shinya [Aoki] in the ring. There’s nothing weighing me down in this fight. We’re teammates and friends. But above all else, we’re true martial artists. When we step into that ring, there will be no emotions. It’s just a complete test of skill and will. We’ll see who the better fighter is. It’s been a year since my first World Title fight and I learned and grew a lot from that. I’ve grown a lot over the past year. I’ve taken everything I could learn from my experience and now I’m back, stronger than ever. I think everyone will see the improvements I’ve made to my game.”

Sage Northcutt, ONE Athlete, stated: “I think ONE Championship is amazing and everyone is amazing in Asia. ONE Championship is about respect and honor and the true martial arts. That’s how I grew up. I was raised in these values. To be honest, I don’t see a lot of weakness in [Cosmo Alexandre]. He’s a veteran, a tremendous striker, and very dangerous. I have a lot of respect for him. I’ve trained very hard for this fight, and I’m going to train very hard for every single fight.”