Angela_Lee

Angela Lee

Angela Lee

Retired American-Canadian mixed martial artist (born 1996)

For the American scholar and author, see Angela Duckworth.

Angela Seung Ju Pucci[8] (née Lee, Chinese: 李胜珠, Korean: 이승주, born July 8, 1996), also known as Angela Lee Pucci, is a Canadian-born American former professional mixed martial artist and combat sports mental health advocate. She competed in the atomweight and strawweight divisions of ONE Championship, where she was the inaugural ONE Atomweight World Champion. Undefeated at atomweight, Lee successfully defended the belt five times before vacating the title when she retired from the sport in September 2023. She holds the record for longest-championship reign in ONE history at more than seven years.

Quick Facts Born, Native name ...

On May 5, 2016, Lee became the youngest person to ever win a world title in MMA by defeating Mei Yamaguchi to win the inaugural ONE Atomweight World Championship at 19 years old and 9 months.[9] When her younger brother Christian Lee won the ONE Lightweight World Championship in May 2019, they became the first sister-brother pair of mixed martial arts world champions.[10][11] Following the death of her younger sister Victoria, Lee announced her retirement from MMA at ONE Fight Night 14 on September 30, 2023.

Background

Lee was born in Vancouver to a Chinese-Singaporean father Ken Lee and a South Korean-born Canadian mother Jewelz Lee. She moved to Hawaii with her family at age 7. Her parents are both martial artists, so she began training at a young age and competing at age 6.[12] Her younger brother Christian is also an MMA fighter and her other younger brother Adrian (born in Waipahu), also trains in martial arts. Lee's younger sister Victoria, who was also a mixed martial artist signed to ONE, died in 2022 at the age of 18.

In 2011, Angela Lee won her division at the USA Amateur pankration national championships, and the next year, she claimed her division at the World Pangration Athlima Federation world championships in Greece.[13] Lee was awarded her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt on February 9, 2018, by third-degree black belt Mike Fowler and her father Ken Lee, who is also a black belt.[14]

Mixed martial arts career

In 2014, Lee made her amateur debut, and in November of that year she won an amateur title by beating Audrey Perkins at Destiny MMA: Na Koa 7 in Honolulu to become the Destiny MMA strawweight champion.

ONE Championship

Lee signed with ONE Championship in 2014 and made her promotional debut at ONE Championship 28: Warrior's Quest on May 22, 2015, submitting Aya Saber with an armbar in the opening round.[15] She competes under Singapore flags.[16]

Following the win, Lee dropped out of college in Hawaii (she was studying business) and moved to Singapore to join Evolve MMA.[17][18] In her next fight, she used a rear naked choke hold to beat Mona Samir at ONE Championship: Odyssey of Champions on September 27, 2015, in the first round.

Lee's third professional fight was at ONE Championship 33: Pride of Lions on November 13, 2015,[19] and she submitted Natalie Gonzales Hills with a twister in the opening round in what commentators described as a potential submission of the year contender.[20][21][22] She subsequently won the 2015 WMMA Press Award for Submission of the Year.[23]

Next, she faced Lena Tkhorevska at ONE Championship 36: Spirit of Champions on December 11, 2015,[24] and won with a rear naked choke in the second round. Lee's first fight of 2016 was against Rebecca Heintzman at ONE Championship 39: Tribe of Warriors on February 20, 2016, and she won with a second round neck crank.[25]

Lee's reward for submitting her first five opponents was a shot at the inaugural ONE Championship Atomweight Women's Title against Japanese veteran Mei Yamaguchi at ONE Championship 42: Ascent to Power on May 6, 2016.[26][27][28] Winning the fight would make her the youngest-ever MMA world champion.[29][30]

Lee won the fight by unanimous decision to become the inaugural ONE Women's Atomweight Champion, and received a $68,200 SGD bonus for her performance.[31] The MMA media described her fight with Yamaguchi as a Fight of the Year contender.[32][33][34] She subsequently signed a new contract with ONE Championship. Commentators speculated that her new contract made Lee the highest paid teenager in the history of MMA, male or female.[35][36]

On March 11, 2017, Angela Lee defeated Jenny Huang of Taiwan and retained the Atomweight World Championship title.[37] On May 27, 2017, she was successful in her second title defense against Istela Nunes of Brazil.[38]

On November 8, 2017, Chatri Sityodtong announced that Angela Lee was involved in a serious car accident after she fell asleep at the wheel of her car.[39] In 2023, Lee revealed that this was actually a deliberate suicide attempt.[40] She managed to survive the incident with a concussion and minor burns. Lee's bout with Mei Yamaguchi that was scheduled for November 24 was rescheduled to May 18, 2018,[41] at One Championship Unstoppable Dreams in Singapore.[42] Lee won via unanimous decision.[43]

Lee was expected to face reigning strawweight champion Jingnan Xiong at ONE Championship 78: Heart of the Lion on November 9, 2018, in an attempt to become the first female two-division champion in ONE Championship.[44] However, on November 5, 2018, Lee revealed that she was forced off the card due to a back injury.[45] The fight eventually happened on March 31, 2019, at One Championship 90: A New Era. Lee was defeated via TKO in round 5, which snapped her undefeated streak.[46]

At ONE Championship 96: Masters of Destiny, Angela Lee suffered another defeat at the hands of Michelle Nicolini, via unanimous decision.[47]

Lee next defended her ONE Atomweight Championship against Xiong Jingnan – whose Strawweight Championship Lee failed to capture – at ONE Championship 100: Century on October 13, 2019.[48] She won the fight by submission in the fifth round.[49]

After pregnancy leave, Lee returned to defend her Atomweight title against ONE Women's Atomweight Grand Prix winner Stamp Fairtex at ONE 155: X on March 26, 2022.[50] Surviving an early scare in the first round after being hurt by a liver punch, she won the bout via submission in the second round.[51] In April 2022, Fight Matrix ranked Lee the #12 female strawweight (121.9 lbs and below) in the world.[52]

Lee challenged Xiong Jingnan for the ONE Women's Strawweight Championship at ONE on Prime Video 2 on September 30, 2022.[53] She lost the fight by unanimous decision.[54]

At ONE Fight Night 14 on September 30, 2023, Lee announced her retirement from mixed martial arts and vacated the title during the event. Speaking to ESPN, she said, "It's just really tough because my sister was also a fighter, my whole family is fighters, my dad was our coach. And because everything was so, I guess, intertwined and connected that's one of the big factors [why] I'm stepping away, because it's just very difficult to go on." As a result, the interim title bout between Stamp Fairtex and Ham Seo-hee at the event was promoted to be for the vacant title.[55]

Personal life

Lee holds American and Canadian citizenship.[3][56][57] She is married to fellow mixed martial artist Bruno Pucci. On October 1, 2020, Lee announced on her social media that she was pregnant.[58] She gave birth to a daughter in April 2021.[59] Both Lee and her husband are head coaches at United BJJ Hawaii, a gym that they founded in 2021. The opening of their gym was delayed by several days as the result of vandalism just prior to the date.[60]

Lee's younger brother Christian is the reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion and ONE Welterweight World Champion. Her youngest sibling, Victoria, made her successful MMA debut at the age of 16 on February 26, 2021.[61] On January 7, 2023, Lee announced on Instagram that Victoria had died on December 26, 2022.[62][63] The Lees shut down their family-owned MMA training facility in Waipahu, Hawaii, and said it would remain permanently closed.[64]

On September 19, 2023, Lee wrote in an article on the Players' Tribune that her 2017 car crash in Hawaii was a suicide attempt, and also revealed that her sister Victoria, who died in 2022 at the age of 18, had taken her own life.[65][66] These incidents motivated her to set up a non-profit organisation, Fightstory, putting out podcast and videos on mental health, as well as a programme to help people with their nutrition and physical health.[67]

Championships and accomplishments

Pankration

  • World Pangration Athlima Federation World Championships:
    • 2012 Agon (full contact) Girls, 16-17 yrs, 58 kg - Champion.[68]
    • 2012 Semi (semi contact) Girls, Juniors, 58 kg - Champion.[69]

Folkstyle wrestling

  • HHSAA Wrestling Circuit
    • 2013, 121 lbs, Girls - Champion.[70]

Mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
14 matches 11 wins 3 losses
By knockout 1 1
By submission 8 0
By decision 2 2
More information Res., Record ...

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Angela Lee Profile". Sherdog. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  2. [2]
    Lim Say Heng (November 10, 2017). "MMA: Angela Lee says it is a 'miracle' she survived Monday's car accident". The Straits Times.
  3. [3]
    Davidson, Neil (March 16, 2018). "Vancouver-born MMA fighter Angela Lee returns after November car crash". CTVNews. Retrieved April 7, 2022. Lee, who divides her time between the Hawaiian island of Oahu and Singapore, comes from a fighting family.
  4. [4]
    "Singapore MMA star Angela Lee is hungry to be a champion". The Straits Times. April 30, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  5. [5]
    Alexander K. Lee (October 10, 2019). "Angela Lee rejuvenated ahead of Xiong Jing Nan rematch, still determined to win 125-pound title". mmafighting.com.
  6. [6]
    "Angela Lee - Evolve MMA Singapore | Asia's #1 Mixed Martial Arts Gym". evolve-mma.com. November 24, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  7. [7]
    Jessie Lim (July 25, 2018). "MMA: Angela Lee rings wedding bells with Brazilian fighter in Hawaii". The Straits Times.
  8. [8]
    Boarding pass from Angela Lee's instagram, retrieved March 8, 2017
  9. [9]
    Teng Kiat (May 7, 2016). "MMA star Angela Lee becomes youngest-ever world champion". Yahoo.
  10. [10]
    Lee, David (May 17, 2019). "MMA: Christian Lee beats Japan's Shinya Aoki to become One Championship's youngest world champion". The Straits Times.
  11. [11]
    "The Youngest MMA World Champions in History are Asian Siblings". NextShark. July 26, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  12. [12]
    Neil Davidson. "Vancouver-born fighter (Unstoppable) Angela Lee goes after world title". The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  13. [13]
    Kyle Nagel (May 21, 2015). "Fight Path: For ONE Championship 27's Angela Lee, surprise at-home attacks were normal". MMA Junkie.
  14. [14]
    "With his family beside him, Christian Lee is marching toward a shot at the featherweight title". The Body Lock. March 6, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  15. [15]
    Brian Knapp. "Shinya Aoki Keeps Lightweight Title, Decisions Koji Ando at One Championship 27". Sherdog.
  16. [16]
    ""Unstoppable" Angela Lee". ONE Championship – The Home Of Martial Arts. November 23, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2022. From Singapore / United States
  17. [17]
    Sanjay Nair (August 24, 2015). "Mixed Martial Arts: Angela Lee quits school aiming to be Singapore's 1st world champion". Straits Times.
  18. [18]
    James Goyder (September 21, 2015). "Angela Lee Switched Her Training to Singapore in Search of One Championship Gold". MMA Weekly.
  19. [19]
    Saheli Roy Choudhury (November 13, 2015). "Asia's female MMA star: 'I finish fights very quickly...'". CNBC.
  20. [20]
    MMA Insider (November 14, 2015). "Historic twister submission in ONE Championship cage by Singaporean MMA star Angela Lee". Yahoo! Sports.
  21. [21]
    FO Staff. "One Championship's Angela Lee pulls off twister submission". Fighters Only. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  22. [22]
    Neil Davidson. "Angela 'Unstoppable' Lee, Vancouver-Born MMA Athlete, Turns Heads In Asia". The Canadian Press.
  23. [23]
    "Angela Lee Takes WMMA Press 2015 Newcomer & Submission Award". Wombat Sports. January 30, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  24. [24]
    Mick Hammond (December 10, 2015). "Friday's Fight is Angela Lee's Next Step Towards ONE CHAMPIONSHIP Title". MMA Weekly.
  25. [25]
    "Rebecca Heintzman-Rozewski Looks To Lessons Learned From Loss Against Angela Lee". asiaone.com. May 17, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  26. [26]
    Jim Edwards (April 27, 2016). "Angela Lee looking to make history and pioneer women's MMA at ONE: Ascent To Power". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022.
  27. [27]
    LIM SAY HENG (April 2016). "Angela Lee eyes first ONE Championship women's title". The New Paper.
  28. [28]
    James Edwards (April 9, 2016). "Angela Lee to square off with Mei Yamaguchi to crown ONE Women's atomweight world champion". Daily Mirror.
  29. [29]
    "Youngest-Ever MMA Champion Could Come Out of Singapore". Bloomberg. May 6, 2016.
  30. [30]
    Lee U-Wen. "Angela Lee's ready for the fight of her life". Business Times.
  31. [31]
    "MMA: Angela Lee awarded $68,200 bonus following title victory". The New Paper. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  32. [32]
    Brian Knapp. "Angela Lee Takes Atomweight Title in FOTY Contender at One Championship 42". Sherdog.
  33. [33]
    Alexander K. Lee (May 6, 2016). "Watch: 19-year-old Angela Lee wins ONE title in thriller". The Score.
  34. [34]
    Jay Russell. "2016 Fight Of The Year Candidate: Angela Lee vs Mei Yamaguchi (Video)". Vendetta Fighter. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  35. [35]
    James Goyder (May 12, 2016). "NEWLY CROWNED ONE ATOMWEIGHT CHAMP ANGELA LEE SIGNS HUGE NEW CONTRACT". MMA Weekly.
  36. [36]
    Chua Siang Yee (May 15, 2016). "Mixed martial arts: Lucrative new deal for Angela Lee". Straits Times.
  37. [37]
    Kowal, Eric (January 4, 2017). "ONE women's atomweight champ Angela Lee defends against Jenny Huang". mymmanews.com. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  38. [38]
    Lee, Jonathan (May 27, 2017). "Angela Lee anaconda chokes Istela Nunes to retain ONE championship world title". tnp.straitstimes.com. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  39. [39]
    "Chatri Sityodtong". www.facebook.com. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  40. [40]
    Burne, Kathrine. "Angela Lee Reveals Past Suicide Attempt". Jitsmagazine. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  41. [41]
    Lim Say Heng (March 8, 2018). "MMA: Angela Lee wants to be first dual-division women's champion in One Championship". The Straits Times.
  42. [42]
    "Unstoppable Dreams". ONE Championship. December 4, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  43. [43]
    "Angela Lee, Nguyen still Champions after Unstoppable Dreams". baguioheraldexpressonline.com. May 18, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  44. [44]
    Alexander K. Lee (October 2, 2018). "Angela Lee aims to become ONE's first two-division female champ, Bibiano Fernandes announced for Nov. 9 show". mmafighting.com.
  45. [45]
    Fernanda Prates (November 5, 2018). "Angela Lee's dual-title plans on hold after back injury forces ONE Championship 83 withdrawal". mmajunkie.com.
  46. [46]
    Lee, Alexander K. (March 31, 2019). "ONE Championship: A New Era results: Shinya Aoki chokes out Eduard Folayang to win title, Xiong Jing Nan stops Angela Lee". MMA Fighting. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  47. [47]
    Leonte, Tudor. "Michelle Nicolini Bests Angela Lee in Main Event of One: Masters of Destiny". sherdog.com. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  48. [48]
    Alexander K. Lee (June 30, 2019). "Angela Lee, Aung La Nsang, Bibiano Fernandes title fights announced for ONE Championship's 100th show". mmafighting.com.
  49. [49]
    "Angela Lee expects trilogy bout with Xiong Jing Nan to happen in 2020". asianmma.com. November 27, 2019.
  50. [50]
    Lee, Alexander K. (January 12, 2022). "Demetrious Johnson return, Angela Lee vs. Stamp Fairtex announced for rescheduled ONE Championship: ONE X event". MMA Fighting. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  51. [51]
    Anderson, Jay (March 26, 2022). "Angela Lee Victorious in Return, Submits Stamp Fairtex in ONE X Main Event". Cageside Press. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  52. [52]
    "Fighter Profile - Fight Matrix". www.fightmatrix.com. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  53. [53]
    Martin, Damon (August 15, 2022). "Angela Lee vs. Xiong Jingnan 3 for strawweight title set to headline ONE on Prime Video 2 card . However, she was defeated by Xiong jing nan, losing by unanimous decision,with this defeat, she accumulated 3 loss in the strawweight decision and failed to win any match in the strawweight decision". mmafighting.com. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  54. [54]
    Taylor, Tom; Atkin, Nicholas (October 1, 2022). "ONE Championship Prime Video 2 results: Xiong Jingnan beats Angela Lee to retain title in trilogy". scmp.com. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  55. [55]
    "ONE champion Angela Lee to retire, vacate title". ESPN.com. September 30, 2023. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  56. [56]
    The Star
  57. [57]
    Sports Net
  58. [58]
    "Angela Lee announces pregnancy". asianmma.com. October 2, 2020.
  59. [59]
    "ONE Championship: Angela Lee admits she 'felt like throwing up' after training for first time since giving birth". South China Morning Post. June 17, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  60. [60]
    "ONE FC Champion Angela Lee Delays Opening United BJJ Hawaii After Vandalism". January 5, 2021.
  61. [61]
    "16 Year-Old Victoria Lee Wins Her ONE FC MMA Debut by Submission". February 28, 2021.
  62. [62]
    Atkin, Nicholas; Taylor, Tom (January 8, 2023). "ONE Championship's Victoria Lee dies at 18 years old". South China Morning Post. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  63. [63]
    Nolan King (January 7, 2023). "ONE Championship rising star Victoria Lee dead at 18". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  64. [64]
    Atkin, Nicolas (January 9, 2023). "Victoria Lee family's MMA gym 'permanently closes' after death at 18". South China Morning Post. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  65. [65]
    "Resilient by Angela Lee". The Players' Tribune.
  66. [66]
    "MMA fighter Angela Lee says her 2017 car crash was a suicide attempt, confirms sister Victoria took her own life". CNA. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  67. [67]
    "'Your story matters': MMA fighter Angela Lee opens up on new initiative, suicide attempt and sister Victoria's death". CNA. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  68. [68]
    "2012 WORLDPANGRATION CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS AGON". www.worldpangration.net. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  69. [69]
    "2012 WORLDPANGRATION CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS PANGRATION IMIEPAFIS". www.worldpangration.net. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  70. [70]
    "Wrestling - HHSAA Girls Final Results - Hawaii High School Athletic Association (HHSAA)". www.sportshigh.com. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  71. [71]
    "ONE Championship's Fight Of The Year 2016". ONE Championship. Archived from the original on January 17, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  72. [72]
    Jay Furness (December 31, 2022). "Angela Lee vs. Stamp Fairtex named ONE's 2022 MMA Fight Of The Year". ONE Championship – The Home of Martial Arts. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  73. [73]
    "Angela Lee Takes WMMA Press 2015 Newcomer & Submission Award". Wombat Sports. January 30, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  74. [74]
    Bryan Tucker (July 4, 2019). "World MMA Awards 2019 Results". mmafighting.com.
  75. [75]
    "MMAjunkie's 'Fight of the Month' for May: A teen sensation shines in a back-and-forth war". MMAjunkie. June 4, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2017.

Further reading
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Angela_Lee, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.