The TakedownOne Championship: Angela Lee faces the weight of expectations after Michelle Nicolini defeat

The 23-year-old gets a reality check in Kuala Lumpur with back-to-back defeats now blotting her record

Despondent Lee says ‘I’ll have to do a lot of thinking’ – but there is no clear way forward for the face of the Asian MMA company

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Michelle Nicolini punches Angela Lee on the ground. The Brazilian got a unanimous decision win in Kuala Lumpur. Photos: One Championship

Published: 2:45pm, 13 Jul 2019Updated: 9:30pm, 13 Jul 2019

Angela Lee answered just four questions in a brief interview after her shock loss to Michelle Nicolini, the last of them eliciting just a one-word response.

Will she be ready for Tokyo? “Yes,” came the reply. One Championship has built its brand around the prodigious poster girl, whose every strike and takedown drew eruptions from the crowd at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night. But she suddenly finds herself on a two-fight skid after going 9-0 during that meteoric rise in Asian MMA.

There were plenty of questions left unanswered, especially how she plans to arrest the slide in a rematch with Xiong Jingnan in Japan on October 13 that now takes on added significance.

The 23-year-old will defend her atomweight title against the Chinese “Panda”, having come up short in her bid to win Xiong’s strawweight title at Ryogoku Sumo Hall in March.

That war, where “Unstoppable” was stopped in the fifth round, was Lee’s first loss in MMA. If she was given the benefit of the doubt then because she was fighting at a new weight, there were no excuses to be had in Malaysia.