ONE Championship: Angela Lee and Xiong Jingnan trade barbs as trilogy title fight heats up
- Xiong will defend ONE strawweight title against atomweight champ Lee in tiebreaking trilogy fight on October 1 in Singapore
- ‘The Panda’ vows to finish Lee again, but the Canadian-American challenger says it will be ‘tap or nap’ for her Chinese rival
Xiong Jingnan and Angela Lee’s rivalry is heating up.
The two ONE Championship MMA stars will meet in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 2 on October 1 in Singapore, when the atomweight champion Lee challenges China’s Xiong for strawweight gold.
It will be their third fight, after Xiong defended the strawweight belt with a fifth-round TKO of Lee in March 2019, and Lee evened the score with a fifth-round submission win at atomweight seven months later.
Both women are expecting a finish in the tiebreaker.
On Thursday, Xiong took to Instagram to respond to comments Lee made in an interview with the Post this year, which were critical of the strawweight champion’s recent performances.
“We’ll see if you are impressed when I finish you again,” the 34-year-old wrote.
It did not take long for Lee to catch wind of Xiong’s remark. And the atomweight champ was quick to return fire.
“Tap or nap,” she wrote in an Instagram post that included a photo from her submission win over Xiong in Tokyo. “I can’t wait to see what you choose this time.”
While Xiong will be gunning for a finish at ONE on Prime Video 2, she acknowledged the danger of the match-up in a recent interview with the promotion.
“Of course, I’d like to get the knockout and I want to give a KO in a beautiful way, but you have to know that no one can predict the outcome in the Circle,” she said.
Xiong (17-2), has fought three times since she was submitted by Lee in the atomweight division in late 2019, defending her strawweight belt with wins over Tiffany Teo, Michelle Nicolini and Ayaka Miura – all by decision.
Canadian-American Lee (11-2), has fought just once in that time frame, having taken a hiatus from competition for the birth of her first child. She made her eagerly awaited return to action at ONE X in March in Singapore, when she defended her atomweight belt with a second-round submission of Thai striker Stamp Fairtex.
Xiong was tuned in for Lee’s comeback fight, and was seemingly impressed by what she saw.
“I was asked in a previous interview whether Angela Lee would be back to her original form after having a baby or whether her form might be bad,” she told ONE. “I said, ‘Definitely her form will be better than before because she’s in a new capacity as a mother. She’ll try harder to move forward and make herself a better role model for the child.’
“So she’s in a very, very good place right now. But, it’s OK. I’m not afraid. That’s why I’m trying to learn more and consolidate my weaknesses and then make my strong side stronger and take this match.”
ONE on Prime Video 2 will also feature the promotion’s first submission grappling title fight, as Mikey Musumeci takes on Cleber Souza for the flyweight belt. Featherweight kickboxing champion Superbon Singha Mawynn is also slated to defend his title on the card, taking on Chingiz Allazov.
