Combined martial arts (MMA) fighter Angela Lee introduced her retirement from the game in a teary farewell on Saturday on the One Combat Evening 14 occasion held on the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The 27-year-old present One atomweight champion has not fought since October 2022, when she misplaced a strawweight world title battle to China’s Xiong Jingnan on the identical venue.
One chief government Chatri Sityodtong had beforehand hinted that Lee may hold up her gloves following the sudden loss of life of her youthful sister Victoria, 18, in December 2022.
Preventing again tears, Lee positioned her championship belt in the midst of the cage earlier than saying: “I’m right here immediately to formally announce my retirement. It has been an unbelievable eight years and I simply wish to say thanks to the followers, to One Championship.
“There have been many battles out and in of the cage. To the fighters and everybody else, the best battle you’ll ever face isn’t the opponent however it’s inside ourselves. All of us undergo struggles, all of us battle and every day we’re victorious. we resist adversity.”
She is married to Brazilian jiu-jitsu athlete Bruno Pucci and is mom to two-year-old Ava. Each had been ready for her as she stepped out of the cage and all three shared an emotional hug.
Nicknamed “Unstoppable”, Lee retires with a 11-3 report in One. Simply earlier than she got here out for her announcement to the sound of The Script’s Corridor of Fame and a thunderous applause, a spotlight reel of her profession performed on the a number of screens inside the sector.
Lee then appeared on the jumbotron and was visibly emotional. Tears flowed down her face as she made her last stroll right down to the ring along with her atomweight title on her shoulders.
Born in Canada to a Singaporean dad and South Korean mum, Lee rose to prominence in Asia’s largest blended martial arts promotion, One Championship, the place she fought below the Singapore flag.
Lee made her skilled MMA debut in 2015 on the age of 18 and shortly rose via the ranks within the ladies’s atomweight division, thrilling followers and impressing analysts along with her experience in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, and hanging approach.
In Might 2016, she grew to become the youngest MMA world champion at simply 19 when she defeated Mei Yamaguchi to win the inaugural One ladies’s atomweight world championship.
Her consideration will now be centered on her non-profit charity Fightstory, which she launched in July. Fightstory is devoted to inspiring hope and constructing a neighborhood for these battling psychological well being. In a current interview with The Straits Instances, Lee stated her charity was impressed by late sister and her personal psychological well being struggles.
Whereas MMA fans will now not be capable to catch Angela in motion, the Lee legacy will probably be continued by her brother, Christian, 25, who’s at present One’s light-weight and welterweight champion. Chatri had advised ST lately that Christian would make his return in early 2024 whereas he additionally shared that he anticipated the youngest Lee sibling, Adrian, 17, to affix One sooner or later.
Saturday’s One Combat Evening 14 occasion drew near-capacity crowd regardless of the programme starting round 8 am to coincide with American prime time. Lee’s star energy was nonetheless obvious as a whole lot of followers turned up pre-event at 7am for a meet and greet session along with her.
Light-weight Amir Khan, the one Singaporean fighter concerned on Saturday, misplaced by way of a 3rd spherical knockout to Eduard Folayang of the Philippines.
This text was first printed in The Straits Instances.
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