“Just so special to me” – Angela Lee reflects on moment she became a mom-champ at loaded ONE X

‘Unstoppable’ Angela Lee has plenty of moments to dwell upon following an inspiring mixed martial arts journey in ONE Championship. However, the Hawaii-based athlete believes her win over Stamp Fairtex is one that easily tops the charts.

The Evolve MMA and United MMA star took a short break from her career to focus on starting her own family after beating Xiong Jing Nan in their rematch at ONE: Century Part I in October 2019.

On April 16, 2021, she and her husband, fellow MMA athlete Bruno Pucci, welcomed their firstborn, Ava Marie. After putting 100 percent focus on the initial days of her upbringing, the 27-year-old got back to work to prepare for her world title defense against ONE Atomweight World Grand Prix winner Stamp.

While Angela Lee left the organization’s 10-year spectacle with a crushing second-round submission over the Thai megastar, the then-ONE atomweight MMA world champion’s road to the fight was possibly the toughest she had undergone throughout her eight-year journey at the pinnacle of the sport.

In a recent appearance on the Keep it Aloha Podcast, ‘Unstoppable’ spoke about the importance of the victory:

“One of the biggest things that I'm most proud of is, after getting pregnant with my daughter, going through the pregnancy, and then you know that fight camp, coming back, that was a really tough fight camp, but I was determined. My daughter's going to be watching me like this is what I still loved and what I meant to do.”

Angela Lee added:

“And I came back and, you know, defended my belt, and with my daughter in the cage, my husband and my family like that was just so special to me. Going through that training camp was so hard. But then being able to just like ride that wave toughen it out, and come out on top was amazing.”

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Angela Lee’s passing of the torch moment to Stamp

Although fans were eager to see Angela Lee continue her dominance in the atomweight division, the Singaporean-American superstar called it quits on her career after opening up on her battle with mental health and the passing of her younger sister, Victoria, in 2022.

Angela Lee returned to the very venue where she turned professional, the Singapore Indoor Stadium, to lay down her prized possession and MMA gloves just before Stamp went toe-to-toe with Ham Seo Hee to determine the interim queen of the division at ONE Fight Night 14 on September 29 last year.

That fight was, however, pushed to a matchup to determine the true queen of the division following Angela Lee’s decision, and the mom-champ soon handed the three-sport megastar the ONE gold after the Thai's highlight-reel win over the South Korean contender.