MMA contender Christian Lee grateful to have dad in his corner as he takes on toughest bout of his career

The bond between up-and-coming MMA contender Christian "The Warrior" Lee and his father, Ken Lee, has gone beyond just that of father and son.

The two belong to the privileged few of father-and-son duos in martial arts as Christian has the luxury of working side-by-side with his dad who is his head trainer.

Christian, who is the younger brother of ONE Women's Atomweight World Champion Angela "Unstoppable" Lee, has already impressed the MMA world in his first few outings inside the ONE Championship cage.

The 19-year-old already has five-straight victories under his belt and has impressed with his growing skill set of unorthodox and unpredictable striking techniques as well as technical grappling and creative submission manoeuvres.

The contender owes his ongoing success to his father.

"My father is everything. He is the sole reason for my development as a competitor, as a martial artist, and as a man. I owe all of my success and future success to him," said Christian.

His dad, Ken, is a Singaporean based in Hawaii for the past 15 years.

Having practiced martial arts since he was a child, Ken holds black belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Pankration, and Taekwondo. He is also a sixth-degree Hap Do Sool master black belt.

The older Lee has been in his son's corner ever since he introduced him to martial arts at an early age.

"I feel very blessed to have my father in my corner. He brings the support of a coach, a parent, and a friend," Christian stated. "He is a real-life superman."

"My dad has instilled countless lessons into my life, but there are two things that have stuck with me the most. First is to run your own race, meaning to focus on your path and not compare yourself to others. Second is to work harder than anyone could ever expect of you," he shared.

These lessons seem to have gone down well with his children as they achieve success under his tutelage.

Angela remains undefeated as she has won all eight of her matches, capturing and defending the inaugural ONE Women's Atomweight World Championship along the way.

Although Christian won his first five bouts in just a year, finishing all of his opponents in the first round, he experienced his first career loss in Aug 2016.

However, he bounced back and defeated Wan Jian Ping of China by way of first-round technical knockout in April.

Now, he's revving to duke it out with fellow prospect Keanu Subba of Malaysia on the undercard of ONE: QUEST FOR GREATNESS which will take place at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

With his father and family behind him, Christian is confident:

"I really believe the family bond we have is what brought us to the top so fast. It is hard trying to come up as a professional martial artist, especially at a young age. But with the tight-knit family bond we have, I feel there is nothing anyone in this family could not do, because when one person in the family does something, everyone is behind you. Our family bond is what makes us so successful."

Still motivated to become the best featherweight on the planet, Christian resumes his prizefighting career on 18 August in the hopes that the lessons he learned from his father will translate into his future success.

"The whole world will see my true potential in this sport. I feel as if I matured so much because of my first career loss. It allowed me to become a better martial artist, and I definitely feel the changes I have made in my game, my competition style, and my training. It is definitely going to pay off in the long run," he ended.