Angela Lee seems to have fought her last fight in mixed martial arts (MMA).
The MMA community was hit with devastating news to start 2023. Undefeated 3-0 ONE Championship 115-pound Atomweight prospect, Victoria Lee, was reported to have died the day after Christmas (Dec. 26, 2022) at just 18 years old. Promotions and fighters around the globe instantly began the mourning process and obviously, no one was more affected by what had happened than the Lee family.
Two of Victoria’s three siblings, Angela and Christian, are also professional MMA fighters under the ONE banner. Angela, 26, is the youngest fighter to ever hold a world title in a major MMA promotion, winning the Atomweight crown at 18. She’s fought the entirety of her 14-fight career (11-3) in ONE Championship, going undefeated below 125 pounds and racking up four title defenses during her run. According to ONE Championship Founder, Chatri Sityodtong, Lee doesn’t appear to be coming back to active competition.
“Angela Lee is likely not coming back due to the loss of her sister,” Sityodtong said in a Facebook Watch video (h/t Beyond Fighting). “Christian Lee told me that he wants to come back. Stamp [Fairtex] and Seo Hee Ham will fight in August for the ONE Atomweight championship.”
If it truly is the end of Lee’s career, she’ll go out having last fought in a third epic champion vs. champion bout against Strawweight titlist, Xiong Jing Nan, in Oct. 2022. Lee ultimately came up short via a unanimous decision in her second career bid at becoming a two-division titleholder (the first also came opposite Xiong).
As for Christian, 24, he last fought in Nov. 2022, capturing the ONE Welterweight title with a fourth round stoppage by elbows and punches against Kiamrian Abbasov (watch highlights). Lee also holds the promotion’s Lightweight title.
UPDATE: Sityodtong has since informed South China Morning Post that Lee won’t return until 2024, resulting in imminent interim titles at both Lightweight and Welterweight. The aforementioned Atomweight title bout will also be for an interim crown.