Angela Lee on the importance of prioritizing mental health in combat sports: “We still have a long way to go”

Newly retired ONE superstar Angela Lee sees a huge need for her recently established non-profit Fightstory, which is aimed at helping people struggling with mental health get through life. She, in particular, is looking to make a difference to those in combat sports.

The non-profit organization is among the things that ‘Unstoppable’ will be busy with after announcing her retirement from the game last month.

Angela Lee called it a career when she graced ONE Fight Night 14 on Prime Video on September 29 in Bangkok. But before she made the announcement, the Singaporean-American fighter first vacated the ONE women’s atomweight MMA world title.

In an interview with The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, 27-year-old Lee conveyed her excitement over Fightstory moving forward, especially what it can do for combat sports, which she sees as really needing what they offer.

Angela Lee said:

“I’m excited to pour all myself into it 100 percent. It's really important that FightStory succeeds just because I see such a huge need for our mission and what we're aiming to do. We've come a long way talking about mental health but we still have a long way to go, especially in the fight world, especially in combat sports. We're hoping to do some good things, make some changes and just fight the good fight for mental health.”

Check out the interview below:

Prior to retiring, Angela Lee was already on a self-imposed break as she and her family mourn the passing of younger sister and fellow ONE fighter Victoria, who took her own life last December at the age of 18. The former ONE champion also came clean that because of mental health struggles she, too, attempted suicide back in 2017.

The twin incidents prompted her to seek a greater purpose in life, leading to the establishment of Fightstory.

Angela Lee became world champion in 2016 and defended the ONE women’s atomweight MMA world title five times. She finished her ONE career with an 11-3 record.

Following Lee's retirement announcement, Thai superstar Stamp Fairtex became the new division queen after beating Ham Seo Hee of South Korea by third-round technical knockout in their headlining title fight at ONE Fight Night 14.