Lea Bivins inspired by Angela Lee and Lee siblings leading up to ONE Championship debut

Lea Bivins didn’t need to look far to find her inspiration in mixed martial arts. The American fighter credits the Lee siblings as her biggest idols in mixed martial arts, and she very well may make that family proud when she debuts in ONE Championship soon.

The 19-year-old will face Zeba Bano in her first match in the organization at ONE 159: De Ridder vs. Bigdash. The event will be broadcast live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, July 22.

While the Lee siblings have been tearing up ONE Championship for years, Bivins said she began her relationship with the family when she and Victoria became teammates in the International Martial Arts Federation (IMAF) in 2019.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Bivins revealed how the Lee siblings pushed her to get better at her craft and how that gave her the confidence to push herself to the limit.

Bivins said:

“They’re beasts out there, they have a whole different training camp. They definitely push the pace, it’s a really hard room to be in. Definitely, there are great competitors like you’re with Christian Lee, Angela Lee, Victoria Lee, and Adrian Lee they’re all amazing martial arts family it was really great to get that experience and that confidence.”

She added:

“I went out there once for Victoria in her pro debut I got to go out and get some work in with her and that was amazing. Before that we knew each other, Victoria and I, we were on the same IMAF world team in Rome that year in 2019.”

The Lees are martial arts royalty. Angela, the eldest, is the first and still-reigning ONE women’s atomweight world champion. Christian, meanwhile, is a former ONE lightweight world champion.

Victoria, the youngest of the three siblings in ONE Championship, is undefeated in the organization with all of her wins ending by finish.

“My dad would always show me Christian and Angela’s fights growing up, they were definitely an inspiration to my own martial arts journey. And then being able to go out there when Victoria was gonna do her pro debut and being able to see Angela she was gonna have her baby soon and we got to actually see them a few months ago at the nationals and she has Ava now. It was just a great experience out there with them.”

Catch the interview below:

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Lea Bivins has always dreamed of joining ONE Championship

Lea Bivins has always knew that she would be an MMA fighter growing up and that ONE Championship was always going to be the organization she would join.

She said that she would accompany her father, who was a professional MMA fighter, whenever he trained and it was during this time that her love for the sport grew.

“It’s so amazing honestly ever since I’ve been a little girl I’ve always wanted to get signed by ONE so when I got signed with ONE it was like a dream come true. Some days it feels so surreal too."

We'll find out if Lea Bivins can make a successful arrival in the circle next month at ONE 159.