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In the weeks leading up to and following her retirement from MMA, Angela Lee has opened up about the adversity she faced during her career.
Following the tragic passing of her younger sister, Victoria, on Boxing Day last year, the former ONE atomweight MMA world champion took time away from the sport.
Eventually, she decided that competing wasn’t her main focus anymore, relinquishing the title at ONE Fight Night 14, to the fans' surprise. In the build-up to her big announcement, Lee spoke in interviews about the anxiety and pressure that came with being a world champion and how it affected her before every fight.
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In particular, making weight for her ONE Championship contests took a heavy toll on ‘Unstoppable’ and her mental health before every return to the Circle.
In a recent appearance on the Keep It Aloha Podcast, she shared details of one specific occasion where an illness made it even more difficult to cut down to atomweight. At ONE: Dynasty of Heroes in 2017, she made a second title defense against Brazil’s Istela Nunes.
Ahead of the fight, Angela Lee was battling a serious illness that made getting to fight night a real test of her drive and will.
Having stepped inside the Circle knowing that she was already compromised, Lee knew that she couldn’t afford to let the fight go into the later stages, and after securing a finish in the second round, she was proud of herself for competing under those conditions:
“One of my title fights I got diagnosed with pneumonia on the week of the fight and I was on antibiotics and struggling to make weight because antibiotics affect your body, your weight, your water retention.”
She added:
“I told myself going into that fight I could not go five rounds like this because I was coughing and throwing up so I got the finish in the second round and immediately after I ran out the cage and I was throwing up.”
She concluded:
“That was a big moment. I was like ‘Angela you’re pretty hardcore, you did that’.”
Watch the full clip below:
