ONE Championship: Angela Lee reveals she is 11 weeks pregnant – ‘becoming a mother worth more than any title’
- Atomweight champ says she and husband Bruno Pucci ‘have been hiding this secret for a month and a half’ with baby due in April 2021
- ‘Baby made sure to surprise us just as I was in the best shape of my life,’ says Lee, who was training for likely title defence vs Denice Zamboanga
ONE Championship atomweight MMA champ Angela Lee has revealed she is 11 weeks pregnant.
“We’ve been hiding this secret for about a month and a half now, but we finally decided it’s time to share this amazing news with the world,” Lee and husband Bruno Pucci wrote in a series of social media posts.
The 24-year-old confirmed her baby is estimated to be due on April 21, 2021, but that she and fellow fighter Pucci do not know the gender yet.
“I’m so excited to start this incredible new adventure with you. Let the next chapter begin,” said Lee, who last fought in a five-round defence of her title against strawweight champ Xiong “The Panda” Jingnan in October at ONE: Century in Tokyo.
“This is seriously a dream come true. Becoming a mom has always been my ultimate goal; worth more to me then any amount of championship gold,” she said.
“The best things come at the most unexpected times. Baby made sure to surprise us just as I was in the best shape of my life, ha ha.”
Lee was set to defend her belt against Filipino Denice “The Menace” Zamboanga this year before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The fight was still on the cards to happen potentially in 2020 before Lee’s pregnancy, with “Unstoppable” keeping in shape at her family’s United MMA gym in Hawaii. She trains there with Pucci, brother Christian Lee – ONE’s lightweight men’s champ – and her 16-year-old sister Victoria Lee, who signed her first professional deal with ONE last month.
“I truly believe that everything has it’s own perfect time and place,” Lee said. “Baby, we feel so blessed that you chose to surprise us now. We can’t wait to be your parents. See you in 29 weeks little one.”
“Unstoppable” Lee, who is Canadian-American of Chinese-Singaporean and Korean heritage, has not indicated if she will continue fighting.
She signed with the Singapore-based Asian martial arts organisation ONE in 2014, making her promotional debut in May 2015 and submitting Aya Saber.
She rose through the organisation with four more submission wins to earn a shot at becoming the inaugural ONE women’s atomweight champ against Japanese veteran Mei Yamaguchi.
Lee won the title by unanimous decision aged 19 in May 2016, and has made four successful defences, overcoming a back injury suffered in a serious car accident in November 2017 that kept her sidelined for all of 2018.
But a move to strawweight in 2019 brought losses to Xiong and Michelle Nicolini, before she dropped back down for the rematch with the Chinese star.
