“It was everything I could have wanted” – Angela Lee throws it back to early days as a professional MMA athlete

As a teenager coming up in mixed martial arts, it was Angela Lee’s dream to reach the very pinnacle of the sport and become a world champion.

On May 6, 2016, she accomplished that goal, defeating Mei Yamaguchi at ONE: Ascent to Power to win the inaugural women’s atomweight world championship. At just 19 years old, Lee had accomplished something that takes most athletes a lifetime of competing to accomplish.

Appearing on the Tamron Hall Show to speak about her early days in MMA and the path that led her to become the most accomplished female fighter in ONE history, Angela Lee said:

“You know, I feel like this was the path I was supposed to go on [martial arts]. I found martial arts and I excelled at it and so I followed that and it really was my passion and everything that I loved."

She added:

“I feel like I had to grow up very fast, you know, becoming a professional athlete at 18-19 years old, but at that time it was everything I could have wanted because I loved fighting, I love traveling, and my dream was to become a world champion. So when I achieved that in 2016, I was obviously like ecstatic.”

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Angela Lee moves on from MMA to focus on a new passion project

In September, Angela Lee stepped inside the Circle with 26 pounds of ONE Championship gold over her shoulder.

However, she wasn’t there to defend the title that she had done so many times before. This time, she was there to lay down her belt and announce her retirement from the sport she loved so dearly.

The emotional moment came less than a year removed from the tragic passing of her sister and ONE Championship prospect Victoria Lee. Knowing that things would never be the same again, ‘Unstoppable’ opted to walk away from MMA to pour her heart in soul into another project that would pay tribute to her little sister.

At the same time, Lee announced the creation of FightStory, a non-profit mental health organization dedicated to sharing the stories of fighters from all walks of life. If you want to learn more about FightStory and join the fight, visit the organization's official Instagram.