Angela Lee says addressing mental health topics key to developing ‘the next generation of kids and youth’ in MMA

Angela Lee believes maintaining good physical and mental health will be of equal importance for the next generation of combat sports superstars.

Since the tragic passing of her sister and MMA prospect Victoria Lee last year, the former ONE atomweight MMA world champion has made it her life’s work to share her struggle with mental health and give a voice to those still coping through her non-profit organization FightStory.

Speaking with Hawaii News Now, Angela Lee believes that the mental and physical aspects of mixed martial arts are undeniably connected and that her experience in the sport set the stage for the work she is doing through Fightstory.

“I actually feel they're very connected, and my journey through martial arts and MMA, I feel like I was meant to have that path and walk that road so that I can speak about what I'm doing now with mental health,” Lee said.

After claiming the ONE atomweight world title at 19 years old, Lee carved out a career for herself as one of the most successful female fighters in the history of the sport.

With 11 career victories, ‘Unstoppable’ established an incredible 82 percent finish rate, with eight of her victories coming by way of submission.

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Angela Lee says MMA and mental health ‘very much the same’

Stepping inside the Circle at ONE Fight Night 14 in September, Angela Lee laid down her atomweight title and announced her retirement from MMA. Today, Lee hopes she can help guide the next generation of athletes to succeed by caring for their mental health just as much as their physical.

“MMA is very much physical, you know, but bringing in that mental health aspect and talking about both sides of them because they're very much the same,” Lee continued.

“And I think that's going to be the key to this speaking to this next generation of kids and youth, you know, sharing that what you're doing in your sport or how physical health affects your mental health and your mental health is going to affect your physical health and so on.”

Throughout her iconic career, Lee faced and defeated some of the biggest names in women’s MMA, including wins over ONE strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan, the promotion’s only three-sport titleholder Stamp Fairtex, and Japanese icon Mei Yamaguchi on two separate occasions.