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Angela Lee suffers TKO loss in One Championship title fight

Billy Hull
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

China’s Xiong Jingnan, right, delivers a shot at Angela Lee.

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Angela Lee, right, drives her knee at Xiong Jingnan.

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Mixed martial arts fighters Xiong Jingnan of China, right, and Hawaii’s Angela Lee fight in Tokyo today.

After nearly ending the fight with an armbar, Mililani alumna Angela Lee was TKO’d by Xiong Jing Nan in the fifth round of a strawweight world title fight in the co-main event of One Championship: A New Era today in Tokyo, Japan.

Lee nearly had the fight won after trapping Jing Nan in an armbar for the final two minutes to end the fourth round, but Jing Nan (14-1, 5-0 One) refused to tap out.

Lee started the fifth round looking tired and took a left kick to the stomach that made her wince. A right hand to the gut started the finish as Jing Nan unloaded a barrage of punches that backed Lee up into the fence. The referee stepped in without Lee ever getting knocked down to stop the fight at 1 minute, 37 seconds of the final round.

It was the first professional loss for the 22-year-old Lee (9-1, 9-1).

“Angela Lee is a good athlete and you see my cut so it is a tough fight,” Jing Nan said through a translator after the fight.

Lee, the organization’s 115-pound world champion, moved up in weight to challenge for the 125-pound title. She remains the atomweight world champion after trying to become the first woman to hold world titles in multiple weight classes in One Championship.

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