One Championship: Angela Lee ‘broke my feelings’, says Michelle Nicolini ahead of Kuala Lumpur clash
- But the Brazilian says ‘I’m mentally and physically stronger than her now’ as they get set for Friday’s fight
- Nicolini says Lee beat her up in a Muay Thai training session after she made the atomweight champion submit in a 2016 grappling match
When Michelle Nicolini turned up at the Evolve MMA gym in 2016, she thought there would be no hard feelings with Angela Lee.
“I had maybe at that time the jiu-jitsu mentality where people are friendly, so I came and she was the only girl at the Evolve team fighting, and when I looked at her I thought, ‘Oh good, I have a girl to train with,” Nicolini told the Post.
“But that didn’t happen.”
The Brazilian grappling veteran – an eight-time world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu – had submitted Lee in a grappling tournament earlier that year in Singapore. Now the two face off in MMA at One Championship’s Kuala Lumpur show on July 12 and there is a little bit of added spice.
“It was my first day or my first hard training session there doing Muay Thai sparring, and I didn’t know anything,” Nicolini said.
“She was very hard on me. It broke my feelings. But it’s a good lesson because people are not always as we expect. We move on. I just remember that when people ask me. But I’m ready for what’s next.”