“It was always for a mission” – Angela Lee admits she’s still adjusting to training for fitness instead of fights

Former undisputed ONE women’s atomweight MMA world champion and ONE Championship legend ‘Unstoppable’ Angela Lee retired from professional competition in late 2023. The decision came after spending months in hiatus following the tragic death of her younger sister, Victoria ‘The Prodigy’ Lee.

However, the 27-year-old now-former atomweight queen admits it has been a difficult adjustment from being one of the world’s most elite martial arts athletes to now just a regular person like everyone else.

One aspect of her professional life that she hasn’t quite figured out yet post-retirement is her fitness.

Speaking candidly on the Keep It Aloha podcast in a recent interview, Lee talked about the difference between training for a fight, and training simply to maintain good health.

See the episode below:

‘Unstoppable’ said:

“These days actually I've had to adjust because for my entire life pretty much I've been training and preparing for competitions. Preparing for fights and never once did I view training or you know martial arts as just a healthy outlet for exercise. It was always for a mission, for something, you know, for an end goal.”

A self-confessed foodie, Lee was notorious for ballooning in weight in between fights. She was always disciplined during fight camps, but was known to binge on her favorite foods when she had no fight scheduled.

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Angela Lee honors late sister Victoria Lee with Fightstory

Former ONE Championship athlete 18-year-old Victoria ‘The Prodigy’ Lee passed away unexpectedly in December 2022, a day after Christmas in Mililani, Hawaii, where the Lee family are based. Months later, it was revealed that the teenage sensation had taken her own life in a suicide.

Angela Lee, along with two-division ONE world champion Christian ‘The Warrior’ Lee, went into hiatus almost immediately and didn’t resurface until months later.

Angela announced her retirement from professional MMA competition in September 2023 and subsequently introduced Fightstory, her non-profit organization that aims to help people dealing with depression and suicide, especially athletes.