Dagi Arslanaliev Reveals He Had Meningitis Two Weeks Before Christian Lee Fight
Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev, more commonly known as Dagi Arslanaliev, will compete for the first time in more than two years when he meets Timofey Nastyukhin tomorrow at ONE Championship: Winter Warriors.
Arslanaliev, dropped a unanimous decision loss to promotional rising star, Christian Lee, at ONE Championship: Century – Part 1, in October 2019.
Since then, Arslanalieve has been sitting on the sidelines as he was scheduled to face Eddie Alvarez, but unfortunately the fight did not materialize.
The 27-year-old Arslanaliev, who fights out of Dagestan, Russia, recently revealed some news that could potentially explain the loss to Lee. When referring to their ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Championship Final bout in October 2019, Arslanaliev said:
“I was sick two weeks before I fought Christian. I had meningitis and really had a bad time, but I had a lot of responsibilities on my shoulder because my fight was one of the main events. I had to keep preparing, so I went for it. I wasn’t at full strength for that fight, but he’s a good fighter and I give him all the credit. He’s a really good champion.
“I was not strong at all. Meningitis is very unpleasant and it took a lot of power out of me. But still, I lost, and now I’m ready to come back.”
