Spend five minutes with Angela Lee and she’ll win you over immediately with her charm and charisma.
Unless, of course, you’re standing opposite her inside of a cage.
Hawaii’s first female world champion in a major mixed martial arts organization will defend her atomweight (115-pound) title against Jenny Huang in the main event of ONE Championship’s Warrior Kingdom event in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday.
Lee (6-0) will fight for the first time since becoming the youngest MMA world champion at 19 years old last May when she was crowned ONE’s first female titleholder.
Already a burgeoning star with a bubbly personality and a quiet confidence that sets her apart from a lot of her fellow competitors, Lee’s stature in the MMA world has exploded in the months since.
“It’s so crazy to think of all that has happened in 10 months,” Lee said last Tuesday at the United MMA gym in Waipahu, which is owned by her father, Ken. “Winning the world title was a dream of mine and after that, it’s been a whirlwind of traveling and new experiences and meeting so many new people. It’s been crazy.”
ANGELA LEE
>> Title: ONE women’s world atomweight champion
>> Record: 6-0, 5 submissions
>> Height: 5-feet-4
>> Weight: 115 pounds
>> High school: Mililani (2014)
ONE: WARRIOR KINGDOM
>> When: Saturday, March 11 Main card begins at 1:30 a.m.
>> Where: Impact Arena, Bangkok, Thailand
MAIN EVENT
Women’s world atomweight championship
>> Who: Angela Lee (6-0) vs. Jenny Huang (5-0)
>> Online ($9.99): onefc.com/livestream/
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A state high school wrestling champion as a junior at Mililani, Lee has transformed from aspiring fighter to worldwide star in three years.
After winning the belt in a memorable five-round war against Mei Yamaguchi, Lee was rewarded with a new contract that makes her one of the top five paid female fighters in the world according to ONE chairman Chatri Sityodtong.
Details of the contract are kept private, but Sityodtong did say at the time she is paid more than UFC fighter Cris “Cyborg” Justino, who netted roughly $120,000 for her UFC 198 fight according to online reports.
Lee has drawn comparisons to a young Mike Tyson by submitting each of her first five opponents in two rounds or less and her win over Yamaguchi was named ONE’s fight of the year in 2016.
“This life I’m living right now is so amazing and I want to protect that,” Lee said. “That’s what motivates me even more in this fight.”
Huang, who is also undefeated at 5-0, has submitted her last three opponents, making this the perfect opportunity for Lee to further expand her rapidly growing status as the best 115-pound female fighter in the world.
In mixed martial arts, the way you win is sometimes more important than who you beat. Huang is the perfect combination of an undefeated title contender with a strong grappling background that makes for a perfect style matchup.
She won her last fight pulling off a gogoplata submission move that rivaled Lee’s twister submission she won with two years ago as the most impressive finishes to a fight in the history of the company.
“That’s why everyone is excited for this fight,” Lee said. “This fight is going to be really good to build the atomweight division even more. She pulled off one of the more rare submission moves that got a lot of people’s attention and I also pulled off a rare submission move a couple of years ago.”
Lee hadn’t had more than four months off between fights since making her MMA debut two years ago.
The 10-month break since winning the belt has given her time to enjoy her new-found stardom, but also get back to focusing on what got her to this point.
“This is the best I’ve ever felt leading up to a fight,” Lee said. “I had some time off and it took a little longer to get back into things, but I feel physically stronger than I’ve been and I’m really healthy this time around going into my fight so I’m really happy about that.”
This will be Lee’s first fight in Thailand after competing in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines for her previous six bouts.
The UFC owns the mixed martial arts market in the United States, but ONE has quickly established itself as the top sports media property in Asia.
The fight, which is available online in Hawaii in high definition for $9.99 on the ONE Championship website, will be broadcast to 118 countries worldwide.