"What a roller coaster" - Retired Angela Lee fondly looks back at her iconic mixed martial arts career

Former ONE atomweight MMA queen Angela Lee has taken a stroll down memory lane to her early experiences as a mixed martial artist in ONE Championship.

The retired superstar shared some of her fondest memories of her iconic MMA career with ONE flyweight world champion Demetrious Johnson on the MightyCast this week.

Lee probably would've celebrated her ninth year as the dominant 115 lbs champion, if she decided to continue pursuing her career in MMA. She was a force to be reckoned with right from the start, ascending the atomweight MMA ranks with unstoppable toughness, until becoming the youngest MMA world champion in promotion history at the age of 19.

On the podcast, 'Mighty Mouse' asked Angela Lee to talk more about her early success in martial arts and how that came into being.

Lee responded:

"Martial arts in general? Yeah, man. What a roller coaster. You know, getting into the spolight at such a young age. It was a lot. But at the same time, I just loved it. So, I loved doing all the interviews, I loved doing whatever they told me to do. I just loved being in the moment because for me, I was like, 'this is a dream.' Like, I don't have to go and work at a desk job."

Check out Angela Lee's response at the 11:44 minute mark below:

Lee went on to defend her atomweight crown five times before vacating the throne in September 2023.

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"I know that this is the right decision" - Angela Lee has no regrets about leaving MMA behind to pursue a mission far greater than any world title

Angela Lee may have stopped fighting inside the Circle indefinitely, but she continues the proverbial fight outside of it, by supporting fighters with their mental health.

As we know from Lee's own experience with depression, the Singaporean-American superstar is making it her life's mission to prioritize suicide prevention within her community in Hawaii.

In December 2022, Lee regrettably lost her younger sister, Victoria, to suicide. Although Angela took a long leave of absence, training without Victoria didn't feel the same.

So the only way to feel Victoria's presence every day is to give back to her community and start an organization that allows fighters to talk about their mental health without the fear of judgment.

Hence, as tough as it was, Lee showed no signs of regret when she officially retired last year at ONE Fight Night 14. Speaking to ONE, she said:

"I know that this is the right decision and I'm just closing the door on this chapter and ready to open this next chapter which is Fightstory."