Angela Lee believes becoming double champion inevitable

Angela Lee believes that everything happens for a reason. In 2019, the reigning atomweight queen had her first chance at two-division supremacy against strawweight titleholder Xiong Jing Nan. Lee came up short in that effort, but believes that in 2019, becoming a dual-world champion simply wasn’t meant to be.

Today, she firmly believes that it is her time.

In an interview with Inside Fighting, Angela Lee said that adding another world championship to her resume has always been the goal. After three long years, the atomweight queen thinks it is meant to happen this week at U.S. primetime.

“That is the goal. This fight is my legacy fight. I’m so excited! I’ve been working hard for this. This is something that I’ve wanted since 2019, three years ago already. I think the time has finally come. everything’s falling into place, and to do it while being a mom is just on another level. Everything happens for a reason - I wasn’t meant to get it in 2019, but it’s meant to happen now.”

Standing in her way of that goal is ONE women’s strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan. With their trilogy tied at 1-1, ‘The Panda’ will look to both keep her title and take the series between the promotion’s most elite female mixed martial artists.

Angela Lee believes Xiong Jing Nan lost her killer instinct

Since their last meeting in 2019, Angela Lee believes that Xiong Jing Nan has lost her killer instinct inside the circle.

Speaking to ONE Championship, ‘Unstoppable’ accused ‘The Panda’ of becoming stagnant in performances. She believes that Xiong is not fighting to win, but simply fighting not to lose.

“I feel like when I watched Xiong in [those recent defenses], she was not fighting to win – she was fighting not to lose. Sometimes when you’re champion for a while, you become stagnant and you’re just fighting to keep your belt, not fighting to win and destroy every person that’s in front of you.”

Prior to Xiong Jing Nan’s loss to Angela Lee, ‘The Panda’ had five straight victories, including four by way of knockout. Since the loss, she has won three in a row, all via unanimous decision. Based on that alone, some have suggested that Lee’s accusations of Xiong have merit.

The Chinese star will look to prove her detractors wrong by finishing Lee for the second time in her career.