Christian Lee Runs a Gym Fight Night in the Middle of Ruotolo Camp

Training camp for a title defense usually means narrowing the focus. Christian Lee is doing the opposite, running his own gym and putting on a fight night for its students while he prepares to face Tye Ruotolo.

A smoker for Hawaii's hopefuls

Lee described the event as "no winner, no loser", with fights held in the gym. The point is to see who the better fighter is, and he encourages his students to go for the finish.

The card had about 15 bouts, in MMA and kickboxing. Ten fighters from his gym took part, and most of them won. About 400 people came to watch.

Lee saw a gap: no active amateur MMA promotions remain on Oahu, which lies roughly 2,400 miles from San Francisco. He staged the card in his gym while also preparing for Ruotolo.

Prodigy Training Center in Waipahu

Lee is 28. He co-owns the gym in Waipahu, Hawaii, with his wife, Katie. The couple recently had their fourth child. The gym was rebranded in 2024 and has since become a hub for fighters across the island.

"The gym's doing great. We've had a lot of guys competing, and a lot of guys winning their fights, too," Lee said.

He also pointed to a youth team. Some of its kids are being readied for amateur youth MMA careers, and Lee plans to take them to California next year.

The title fight on November 6

Lee defends his ONE Lightweight MMA World Title against Ruotolo, the ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion. The bout is the main event of The Inner Circle 37 on Friday, November 6, at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. It streams in Asia primetime.

Our View

Lee is carrying two jobs into the fight: preparing for a grappling champion and running a gym that matches his students against each other. It is unclear how the smoker fit into his camp schedule or whether it changed his preparation. The clearest answer will come on November 6, when the fight against Ruotolo shows how camp went.

Source: BJPenn.com