Angela Lee recalls how skipping college and convincing her parents led to legendary MMA career: “I need to follow my heart”

Mixed martial arts history might have taken a curve if not for Angela Lee’s life-altering decision when she was still a teenager.

The former ONE women’s atomweight MMA world champion is undoubtedly one of the most influential fighters in MMA history, and she told The Aloha Hour that her life almost didn’t pan out that way.

Lee said she was a couple of semesters deep in her freshman year at The University of Hawai’i in West Oahu when she decided that mixed martial arts was her true calling.

The Singaporean-American superstar recalled how she had to convince her parents that she wanted to skip college and focus all her efforts on an MMA career.

She said:

“So, after I graduated [high school], I did go to [The University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu] like for two semesters. Then after that I was like, 'No this is not for me. I need to follow what my heart said.' I needed to follow what I wanted to do, which is fight. So I talked to my parents, and they were like, 'Okay, if this is what you want to do, you're just going to have to commit.' So I was like, 'Yep I can do that.'”

Lee has practiced martial arts since she was a schoolgirl and was one of the best amateur grapplers in Hawaii. After ruling the state’s Pankration scene, she decided that MMA would be her career.

‘Unstoppable’ spent her entire professional career with ONE Championship and became the promotion’s inaugural ONE women’s atomweight MMA world champion in May 2016 when she beat Japanese veteran Mei Yamaguchi.

She has since relinquished her gold when she announced her retirement in September during ONE Fight Night 14.

Watch Lee's entire interview below: