While challenger Timofey Nastyukhin (14-5) promised a first-round finish, it was Christian Lee (15-3) who delivered that result at ONE on TNT II.

The 22-year-old Lee retained his lightweight title with the impressive victory, which took place at Singapore Indoor Stadium and aired Wednesday on TNT.

Lee was cautious in the face of the aggressive Nastyukhin early staying on the outside and moving well. But as the challenger leaped forward to strike, Lee clipped him with a clean counter left that sent Nastyukhin to the canvas.

Lee pulled back on a takedown that was coming after the clean left and instead started to rattle off right hands. Some 15 shots followed, and as Nastyukhin tried to tripod and stand, they continued to land clean, opening up a cut near the challenger’s right eye. Lee didn’t show any signs of slowing down, and the referee called off the fight just 73 seconds after it began.

Christian Lee retains the ONE Lightweight World Title with a first-round stoppage of Timofey Nastyukhin! @ChristianLeeMMA @tntdrama @BleacherReport @BR_MMA @brlive #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship #ONEonTNT2 pic.twitter.com/mxxy1ZRF8S

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) April 15, 2021

“I couldn’t have asked for a better story, really,” Lee said before dedicating the fight to his expectant wife. “This was the most important fight of my life.”

For his part, Nastyukhin protested the result, but it was difficult to paint his attempted recovery as intelligent defense in the face of relentless punches. The result served as Lee’s second successful title defense.

“Speed and accuracy beats power, and that’s what happened tonight,”  Lee said.