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There’s no doubt in Angela Lee’s mind that she’ll be holding both the women’s atomweight and strawweight world titles soon enough.
After her first attempt at becoming a two-division world champion was foiled by reigning ONE women’s strawweight queen Xiong Jing Nan, ‘Unstoppable’ hopes to finish the job this time around at ONE on Prime Video 2: Xiong vs. Lee III.
With both combatants holding one win over the other, sparks are expected to fly in the trilogy inside Singapore Indoor Stadium on September 30. Just a week before the bitter rivals settle their differences once and for all, Lee’s confidence appears to be at an all-time high.
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In an interview with ONE Championship, the youngest champion in MMA history said:
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“I feel like I did really well [in our first two matches], but at the same time, I know how much better I could have been if I had the right preparations. And so now I truly feel that this is my time.”
Angela Lee continued:
“The preparation has been great, and I’m confident because she didn’t experience my full game yet, but I think I think I’ve experienced her's. So I think that’s going to be to my advantage.
Angela Lee has been on a roll since avenging that stinging TKO loss to ‘The Panda’ in their first encounter.
The Singaporean-American star returned the favor by denying Xiong’s attempt to pry away her 115-pound world title at ONE: Century Part I in 2019. The United MMA and Evolve MMA superstar asserted her dominance on the ground, forcing the Chinese fighter to tap-out to a rear-naked choke late in round five.
Angela Lee then took an almost two-year sabbatical from MMA following the birth of her daughter, Ava Marie. She came back with a vengeance this past March, finishing Stamp Fairtex in the same manner to retain her women’s atomweight throne.
‘Unstoppable’ made it clear that she’ll also be angling for a swift victory against Xiong this time around.
She said:
“Definitely, I’ll be looking to take her out in the early rounds, and I feel like her game plan is to take me out in later rounds. We’ll see who gets what they want.”
Angela Lee thinks Xiong Jing Nan lost her killer instinct
In an earlier interview with ONE, Angela Lee claimed that she was unimpressed by Xiong’s last fight against Ayaka Miura and her two previous title defenses before that.
The 34-year-old Sanda specialist, after all, is a proven finisher with 10 of her 17 career wins coming via KO/TKO. But as of late, ‘The Panda’ has been uncharacteristically more timid than usual, as she went the distance in her last three victories.
Angela Lee thinks Xiong has lost her edge since their rematch. As far as she’s concerned, this version of Xiong is not the same aggressive world champion that defeated her back then.
‘Unstoppable’ said:
“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.”
