ONE Championship: Angela Lee retires from MMA and vacates title – ‘I know this is right decision’
- Atomweight MMA champion lays her belt on the canvas in the cage at Singapore Indoor Stadium before ONE Fight Night 14 main event
- ‘I’m here to officially announce my retirement, it’s been an incredible eight years,’ she says, as Stamp Fairtex beats Ham Seo-hee for undisputed belt
Angela Lee confirmed she has retired from mixed martial arts, and vacated her ONE Championship atomweight MMA title in Singapore on Saturday, after the death of her 18-year-old sister.
The 27-year-old Lee sat cageside for the ONE Fight Night 14 event at Singapore Indoor Stadium, where she did a meet and greet with fans before the show.
Lee laid her belt on the canvas in the cage at Singapore Indoor Stadium before the fight, during an interview with ONE commentator Mitch Chilson after the co-main event.
“I’m here today to officially announce my retirement,” she said. “I just want to say thank you to the fans, to ONE Championship, to Chatri [Sityodtong, ONE chairman], to my team, and to everyone. There have been so many battles in and out of the cage.”
Lee hugged her husband and fellow fighter Bruno Pucci, as well as their two-year-old daughter, on her way out of the Circle, before joining the commentary booth for the main event.
“She [Victoria] was my main training partner. So I know that this is the right decision and I’m just closing the door on this chapter and ready to open this next chapter which is Fightstory,” she later told media backstage.
ONE Championship Fight Night 14 live results, updates, highlights
Lee has set up the non-profit mental health charity Fightstory in Victoria’s memory, to “help save lives”.
“This year has been the hardest year of my life and I’m doing my best to pick up the pieces and move forward,” Lee added in the cage.
“Fightstory was created because of my sister Victoria and I’m choosing to honour her and her life by moving forward and helping others.
“Our mission at Fightstory is to save lives and we believe that speaking the truth, advocating awareness and creating a safe community is what’s most important.
“The last thing I want to say is this – to the fighters and to everyone watching, the greatest battle you ever face won’t be a battle with an opponent standing in front of us, it will be a battle with ourselves.
“We all go through struggles with ourselves, and every day we are victorious when we choose to rise up in the ace of adversity.”
“Unstoppable” Lee (11-3) signed with Singapore-based martial arts promotion ONE in 2014 and made her debut in May 2015.
She went on to become the youngest MMA world champion in 2016, defeating Mei Yamaguchi by decision to win the inaugural atomweight title, which she never lost.
Lee went on to make 5 title defences. She failed in two bids to claim the ONE strawweight MMA title from Xiong Jingnan. The second of those, in October 2022 in Singapore, proved to be her last fight.
Victoria Lee, who went 3-0 in ONE’s atomweight division after debuting in 2021, died last December, three weeks out from a fight in Bangkok.
Their brother Christian Lee – ONE’s lightweight and welterweight MMA champion – will return to action in 2024, ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong said.
The 17-year-old Adrian Lee, the youngest sibling of the family, successfully defended his amateur title this week and is on ONE’s radar.
The siblings’ father and coach, Ken Lee, “completely retired” from coaching after Victoria’s death. The family’s United MMA gym in Hawaii “permanently closed” in January, but has since reopened.
