One big 'kill shot' could upset MMA phenom Christian Lee in Timofey Nastyukhin fight, rival Eddie Alvarez says

• Timofey Nastyukhin has what it takes to defeat Christian Lee providing he lands his "kill shot."
• That's according to Eddie Alvarez, who lost by knockout to Nastyukhin in 2019.
• Alvarez has since rebounded and is determined to force a One Championship title shot.

One big "kill shot" could upset the MMA phenom Christian Lee in his One Championship fight against Timofey Nastyukhin on April 14.

That's the opinion of Lee's 170-pound rival Eddie Alvarez, who came unstuck in a first-round knockout loss against Nastyukhin in 2019, and told Insider about the skills that make the Russian fighter so dangerous.

"I think the beginning of the Lee vs. Nastyukhin fight could be quite interesting because Timofey is very strong and a great athlete," Alvarez said.

"I could see Christian coming out the way he comes out, rushing a takedown, and forcing grappling exchanges on Timofey.

"But it's going to be up to Timofey to keep up his conditioning to hold that explosiveness and keep that explosiveness throughout the whole fight, while dealing with the grappling exchanges that are going on."

Nastyukhin defeated Alvarez with strikes at the "A New Era" event in Tokyo in March 2019.

With one minute remaining in the opening round, Nastyukhin caught Alvarez with a pin-point three-punch combination from mid-range.

The impact from the blows wobbled Alvarez's legs, sending him back to the fence. From there, Nastyukhin beat the American to the floor and hit him once more when he was covering up into a ball. The referee then waved the bout off to confirm Alvarez's debut loss in One Championship.

The 37-year-old has since rebounded, submitting Eduard Folayang with a rear-naked choke in August 2019 before defeating Iuri Lapicus earlier this month.

He told Insider that he wants to keep on trouncing One's fighters in the 170-pound division until he forces a title shot, and naturally has one eye on the current champion Lee.

He told Insider that the April 14 title fight is dependent on whether Nastyukhin can "catch Christian with a kill shot before Christian is able to tire Timothy out."

He finished by saying: "It will be interesting to see who imposes their will first."