One Championship: Angela Lee slices finger cutting avocado and needs five stitches

Warning: this story contains images of a graphic nature

Angela Lee’s preparations for her huge One Championship rematch against Xiong Jingnan in Tokyo hit a slight snag after she accidentally cut her finger while slicing an avocado at her home in Hawaii.

“Near death by avocado!” Lee wrote in an Instagram post. “I’m seriously clumsy and yesterday I accidentally sliced my hand with a knife.”

Luckily for Lee it was a clean cut and she didn’t hit any arteries, but the wound still required five stitches.

“Scary experience and definitely don’t want to do that again!” Lee added. “Good reminder to always be more careful! Looking forward to being back in the gym ASAP!”

“Unstoppable” is set to defend her strawweight title against the Chinese “Panda” at Ryogoku Sumo Hall in just over two weeks’ time on October 13. After a meteoric rise, Lee has seen her record slump to 9-2. She is coming off two losses after a surprise defeat by Michele Nicolini in Kuala Lumpur last month, which followed her fifth round TKO by Xiong in Tokyo at the end of March.

It was another lucky escape for Lee, who was involved in a serious car accident in November 2017 and said it was a “miracle” she survived, suffering only a back injury.

The Singaporean’s car flipped five times on the highway in Hawaii, where she lives, as she drove to an early morning training session. She returned to fight Mei Yamaguchi in May 2018 but was out of action until March 31 this year after exacerbating her back injury.

The 23-year-old did not say how long she would be out of action this time, but the injury will surely interrupt her preparations for the Xiong fight.

Lee had only just returned to training a week ago, following an extended break after the unanimous decision loss to Brazilian jiu-jitsu veteran Nicolini.

In late July, Lee celebrated her one year wedding anniversary with husband and fellow fighter Bruno Pucci in Maui, before she travelled to Europe to cheer on two of her siblings in the 2019 Youth MMA World Championships.

Victoria and Adrian Lee each won five gold medals, a silver medal and a trophy for being the outstanding fighter in their divisions at the tournament in Rome.

The Lee siblings were also out in force in Split, Croatia, two weeks ago to see father and coach Ken Lee presented with an award for excellence by the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

“I’m so incredibly proud of my dad for being the exemplary leader and coach that he is,” Angela Lee said.

“There is so much that he does, not only for our family but for our team and for others in the community. Dad you deserve this recognition and so much more.”