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‘I Can Establish Control There’ – Shozo Isojima Anticipates Gruelling 15-Minute War With Adrian Lee At ONE Fight Night 40
While the rest of the MMA world has marveled at Adrian “The Phenom” Lee‘s explosive finishing ability, Japanese star Shozo Isojima sees a young fighter whose reliance on early aggression masks critical weaknesses in his technical development.
The 28-year-old judoka will face Lee in a lightweight MMA bout at ONE Fight Night 40: Buntan vs. Hemetsberger II, live in U.S. primetime on Friday, February 13, from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, after their original booking at ONE 172 fell through due to Isojima’s knee injury.
Now fully healthy and battle-tested from his previous MMA bout against ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion Tye Ruotolo, the same man who Lee also last fell against, Isojima believes he’s identified the path to victory against the 19-year-old phenom.
Lee’s three professional victories all came via submission in increasingly faster times, with his most recent win over Takeharu Ogawa lasting just 63 seconds.
The youngest of the fighting Lee siblings has built his reputation on overwhelming opponents from the opening bell with a whirlwind of offense that leaves little room for his rivals to breathe. But Isojima has studied that approach extensively and believes he knows exactly what’s coming.
He said:
“The moment the fight starts, he just rushes forward and throws strikes continuously. So that momentum, that youthfulness – I’m training to make sure I don’t get caught up in it.”
The second-degree judo black belt’s preparation extends beyond simply surviving Lee’s initial onslaught. Isojima has identified what he sees as a fundamental flaw in the Hawaiian’s game — an overreliance on that explosive start that betrays a lack of depth in the technical aspects of mixed martial arts.
So, when Lee’s signature aggression fails to produce an early finish, Isojima believes the younger fighter’s inexperience will be exposed.
Isojima said:
“I don’t think he’s quite there yet [in terms of] the finer details of creating transitions and developments. If the fight goes long rounds, I’m not sure how it would end, but I think that could be a weak point.”
That assessment carries particular weight given Lee’s most recent performance. Against Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 35 last September, the teenager’s aggressive start was neutralized, and once his opponent established control, Lee struggled to adapt. The fight ended with Ruotolo securing a rear-naked choke in the second round, marking the first loss of Lee’s professional career.
Isojima plans to weaponize his judo expertise in the clinch, where he believes his transitions and technical prowess will overwhelm Lee’s raw athleticism.
After all, the Japanese fighter has made his living from trips and throws in close quarters, and he sees the clinch as the perfect environment to impose his game plan and drain Lee’s explosive energy.
“My strength is in the clinch – my transitions and developments when we’re tied up. I think I can establish control there.”
Isojima Brings Hard-Earned Lessons From Ruotolo Loss
The sting of defeat often reveals more about a fighter’s character than victory ever could, and for Shozo Isojima, his first-round submission loss to Tye Ruotolo at ONE 173 provided invaluable lessons that he’s eager to apply against Adrian Lee.
The 28-year-old has been brutally honest in his self-assessment following that November setback. Rather than making excuses, Isojima acknowledged that he failed to prepare for the shortened turnaround between fights, believing he could handle what proved to be an insufficient camp.
“In my last fight, I didn’t prepare my condition. The turnaround between fights was quite short, and I thought I could handle it, but I ended up not being fully prepared. That wasn’t good.
“But facing a top-level grappler like Tye Ruotolo, I didn’t feel like there was some tremendous physical difference. So I felt like if I properly prepare and step onto that stage, I can compete. That was a huge learning experience.”
That revelation carries significant weight for his approach to Lee. Despite the dominant nature of his loss, Isojima discovered something crucial during his brief time grappling with one of the world’s elite submission artists — he belonged at that level.
The physical disparity he might have feared simply wasn’t there, and that realization has fueled his confidence heading into this matchup.
Isojima remembered:
“At the Tokyo event, when I fought Tye Rutolo, even though I ended up getting pushed back in the first round, in that moment when we clinched, I didn’t really feel his power. So I think I can compete with world-class fighters there. I want to apply what I learned from that experience.”
With improved conditioning and a clear understanding of what to expect from Lee’s aggressive opening, Isojima has developed a specific timeline for how he envisions the fight to unfold.
His game plan centers on patience and technical superiority once the initial storm passes and the fight enters deeper water:
“If Adrian comes rushing in with momentum, I think I can weather that and then in the second round take a dominant position, score points, or get close to a finish. But if he comes out measuring things in that first rush, I think it could really be a tough three-round decision.”
