| Angela Lee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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_(cropped).jpg) Lee in 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Angela Seung Ju Lee (1996-07-08)July 8, 1996 (age 29) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Native name | 李胜珠 (Li Shengzhu) 이승주 (Lee Seung-ju) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Unstoppable[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Waipahu,Hawaii[2] Singapore[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American and Canadian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 124 lb (56.2 kg; 8.9 st) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Division | Atomweight Strawweight | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reach | 67 in (170 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Style | Pankration,Taekwondo,BJJ,Muay Thai,Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stance | Orthodox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fighting out of | Tanjong Katong, Singapore | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Evolve MMA[4] United MMA[5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | 1st degree black belt inTaekwondo Black belt inBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Mike Fowler and Ken Lee[6] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 2015–2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mixed martial arts record | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By knockout | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By submission | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By decision | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Losses | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By knockout | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By decision | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | [7] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relatives | Christian Lee(brother) Victoria Lee(sister) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mixed martial arts record fromSherdog | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Angela Seung Ju Pucci[8] (née Lee,Chinese:李胜珠,Korean:이승주, born July 8, 1996), also known asAngela Lee Pucci, is a Canadian-born Americancombat sportsmental health advocate and former professionalmixed martial artist. She competed in theatomweight andstrawweight divisions ofONE Championship, where she was the inauguralONE Atomweight World Champion. Undefeated at atomweight, Lee successfully defended the belt five times before vacating the title when she retired from the sport in September 2023. She holds the record forlongest-championship reign in ONE history at more than seven years.
On May 5, 2016, Lee became the youngest person to ever win a world title in MMA by defeatingMei Yamaguchi to win the inaugural ONE Atomweight World Championship at 19 years old and 9 months.[9] When her younger brotherChristian Lee won theONE Lightweight World Championship in May 2019, they became the first sister-brother pair of mixed martial arts world champions.[10][11] Following the death of her younger sisterVictoria, Lee announced her retirement from MMA atONE Fight Night 14 on September 30, 2023.
Lee was born inVancouver to aChinese-Singaporean father Ken Lee and aSouth Korean-bornCanadian mother Jewelz Lee. She moved toHawaii with her family at age 7. Her parents are both martial artists, so she began training at a young age and competing at age 6.[12] Her younger brotherChristian is also an MMA fighter and her other younger brother Adrian (born inWaipahu), also trains in martial arts. Lee's younger sisterVictoria, who was also a mixed martial artist signed to ONE, died in 2022 at the age of 18.
In 2011, Angela Lee won her division at the USA Amateur pankration national championships, and the next year, she claimed her division at the World Pangration Athlima Federation world championships in Greece.[13] Lee was awarded her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt on February 9, 2018, by third-degree black belt Mike Fowler and her father Ken Lee, who is also a black belt.[14]
In 2014, Lee made her amateur debut, and in November of that year she won an amateur title by beating Audrey Perkins at Destiny MMA: Na Koa 7 in Honolulu to become the Destiny MMA strawweight champion.
Lee signed withONE Championship in 2014 and made her promotional debut atONE Championship 28: Warrior's Quest on May 22, 2015, submittingAya Saber with an armbar in the opening round.[15] She competes under Singapore flags.[16]
Following the win, Lee dropped out of college in Hawaii (she was studying business) and moved to Singapore to joinEvolve MMA.[17][18] In her next fight, she used a rear naked choke hold to beat Mona Samir atONE Championship: Odyssey of Champions on September 27, 2015, in the first round.
Lee's third professional fight was atONE Championship 33: Pride of Lions on November 13, 2015,[19] and she submitted Natalie Gonzales Hills with atwister in the opening round in what commentators described as a potential submission of the year contender.[20][21][22] She subsequently won the 2015 WMMA Press Award for Submission of the Year.[23]
Next, she faced Lena Tkhorevska atONE Championship 36: Spirit of Champions on December 11, 2015,[24] and won with a rear naked choke in the second round. Lee's first fight of 2016 was against Rebecca Heintzman atONE Championship 39: Tribe of Warriors on February 20, 2016, and she won with a second round neck crank.[25]
Lee's reward for submitting her first five opponents was a shot at the inaugural ONE Championship Atomweight Women's Title against Japanese veteranMei Yamaguchi atONE Championship 42: Ascent to Power on May 6, 2016.[26][27][28] Winning the fight would make her the youngest-ever MMA world champion.[29][30]
Lee won the fight by unanimous decision to become the inauguralONE Women's Atomweight Champion, and received a $68,200 SGD bonus for her performance.[31] The MMA media described her fight with Yamaguchi as a Fight of the Year contender.[32][33][34] She subsequently signed a new contract with ONE Championship. Commentators speculated that her new contract made Lee the highest paid teenager in the history of MMA, male or female.[35][36]
On March 11, 2017, Angela Lee defeated Jenny Huang of Taiwan and retained the Atomweight World Championship title.[37] On May 27, 2017, she was successful in her second title defense against Istela Nunes of Brazil.[38]
On November 8, 2017,Chatri Sityodtong announced that Angela Lee was involved in a serious car accident after she had reportedly fallen asleep at the wheel of her car.[39] In 2023, Lee revealed that this was actually a deliberate suicide attempt.[40] She managed to survive the incident with a concussion and minor burns. Lee's bout withMei Yamaguchi that was scheduled for November 24 was rescheduled to May 18, 2018,[41] at One Championship Unstoppable Dreams in Singapore.[42] Lee won via unanimous decision.[43]
Lee was expected to face reigning strawweight championJingnan Xiong atONE Championship 78: Heart of the Lion on November 9, 2018, in an attempt to become the first female two-division champion in ONE Championship.[44] However, on November 5, 2018, Lee revealed that she was forced off the card due to a back injury.[45] The fight eventually happened on March 31, 2019, atOne Championship 90: A New Era. Lee was defeated via TKO in round 5, which snapped her undefeated streak.[46]
AtONE Championship 96: Masters of Destiny, Angela Lee suffered another defeat at the hands ofMichelle Nicolini, via unanimous decision.[47]
Lee next defended her ONE Atomweight Championship againstXiong Jingnan – whose Strawweight Championship Lee failed to capture – atONE Championship 100: Century on October 13, 2019.[48] She won the fight by submission in the fifth round.[49]
After pregnancy leave, Lee returned to defend her Atomweight title againstONE Women's Atomweight Grand Prix winnerStamp Fairtex atONE 155: X on March 26, 2022.[50] Surviving an early scare in the first round after being hurt by a liver punch, she won the bout via submission in the second round.[51] In April 2022,Fight Matrix ranked Lee the #12 female strawweight (121.9 lbs and below) in the world.[52]
Lee challengedXiong Jingnan for theONE Women's Strawweight Championship atONE on Prime Video 2 on September 30, 2022.[53] She lost the fight by unanimous decision.[54]
AtONE Fight Night 14 on September 30, 2023, Lee announced her retirement from mixed martial arts and vacated the title during the event. Speaking toESPN, she said, "It's just really tough because my sister was also a fighter, my whole family is fighters, my dad was our coach. And because everything was so, I guess, intertwined and connected that's one of the big factors [why] I'm stepping away, because it's just very difficult to go on." As a result, the interim title bout betweenStamp Fairtex andHam Seo-hee at the event was promoted to be for the vacant title.[55]
Lee holds American and Canadian citizenship.[3][56][57] She is married to fellow mixed martial artistBruno Pucci. On October 1, 2020, Lee announced on her social media that she was pregnant.[58] She gave birth to a daughter in April 2021.[59] Both Lee and her husband are head coaches at United BJJ Hawaii, a gym that they founded in 2021. The opening of their gym was delayed by several days as the result of vandalism just prior to the date.[60]
Lee's younger brotherChristian is the reigningONE Lightweight World Champion andONE Welterweight World Champion. Her youngest sibling,Victoria, made her successful MMA debut at the age of 16 on February 26, 2021.[61] On January 7, 2023, Lee announced on Instagram that Victoria had died on December 26, 2022.[62][63] The Lees shut down their family-owned MMA training facility inWaipahu, Hawaii, and said it would remain permanently closed.[64]
On September 19, 2023, Lee wrote in an article on the Players' Tribune that her 2017 car crash in Hawaii was a suicide attempt, and also revealed that her sister Victoria, who died in 2022 at the age of 18, had taken her own life.[65][66] These incidents motivated her to set up a non-profit organisation, FIGHTSTORY, putting out podcast and videos on mental health, as well as a programme to help people with their nutrition and physical health.[67]
| 14 matches | 11 wins | 3 losses |
| By knockout | 1 | 1 |
| By submission | 8 | 0 |
| By decision | 2 | 2 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 11–3 | Xiong Jing Nan | Decision (unanimous) | ONE on Prime Video 2 | October 1, 2022 | 5 | 5:00 | Kallang, Singapore | For theONE Women's Strawweight Championship (125 lb). |
| Win | 11–2 | Stamp Fairtex | Submission (rear-naked choke) | ONE: X | March 26, 2022 | 2 | 4:50 | Kallang, Singapore | Defended theONE Women's Atomweight Championship (115 lb). Performance of the Night. Lee vacated the title on September 30, 2023 due to her retirement. |
| Win | 10–2 | Xiong Jing Nan | Submission (rear-naked choke) | ONE: Century – Part 1 | October 13, 2019 | 5 | 4:48 | Tokyo,Japan | Return to 115 lb. Defended theONE Women's Atomweight Championship (115 lb). |
| Loss | 9–2 | Michelle Nicolini | Decision (unanimous) | ONE: Masters of Destiny | July 12, 2019 | 3 | 5:00 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | |
| Loss | 9–1 | Xiong Jing Nan | TKO (body kicks and punches) | ONE: A New Era | March 31, 2019 | 5 | 1:37 | Tokyo, Japan | Strawweight (125 lb) debut. For theONE Women's Strawweight Championship (125 lb). |
| Win | 9–0 | Mei Yamaguchi | Decision (unanimous) | ONE: Unstoppable Dreams | May 18, 2018 | 5 | 5:00 | Kallang, Singapore | Defended theONE Women's Atomweight Championship (115 lb). |
| Win | 8–0 | Istela Nunes | Submission (anaconda choke) | ONE: Dynasty of Heroes | May 26, 2017 | 2 | 2:18 | Kallang, Singapore | Defended theONE Women's Atomweight Championship (115 lb). |
| Win | 7–0 | Jenny Huang | TKO (punches) | ONE: Warrior Kingdom | March 11, 2017 | 3 | 3:37 | Bangkok, Thailand | Defended theONE Women's Atomweight Championship (115 lb). |
| Win | 6–0 | Mei Yamaguchi | Decision (unanimous) | ONE: Ascent to Power | May 6, 2016 | 5 | 5:00 | Kallang, Singapore | Won the inauguralONE Women's Atomweight Championship (115 lb). |
| Win | 5–0 | Rebecca Heintzman | Submission (neck crank) | ONE: Tribe of Warriors | February 20, 2016 | 2 | 1:08 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Catchweight (120 lb) bout. |
| Win | 4–0 | Lena Tkhorevska | Submission (rear-naked choke) | ONE: Spirit of Champions | Dec 11, 2015 | 2 | 3:26 | Manila, Philippines | |
| Win | 3–0 | Natalie Gonzales Hills | Submission (twister) | ONE: Pride of Lions | Nov 13, 2015 | 1 | 2:24 | Kallang, Singapore | |
| Win | 2–0 | Mona Samir | Submission (rear-naked choke) | ONE: Odyssey of Champions | Sep 27, 2015 | 1 | 3:49 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Catchweight (120 lb) bout. |
| Win | 1–0 | Aya Saber | Submission (armbar) | ONE: Warrior's Quest | May 22, 2015 | 1 | 1:43 | Kallang, Singapore | Strawweight debut. |
Lee, who divides her time between the Hawaiian island of Oahu and Singapore, comes from a fighting family.
From Singapore / United States
