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‘Unstoppable’ Angela Lee gets more fulfillment from helping people through her non-profit organization than she ever did winning world championships.
After nearly a decade of dominance under the ONE Championship banner, Angela Lee walked away from MMA to focus on Fightstory, a mental health non-profit established as a way to help those who are struggling and honor her little sister, Victoria Lee, who tragically passed away in late 2022.
Appearing on the Keep It Aloha podcast, Lee ruled out a potential return to fighting one day and offered her take on why so many fighters typically retire only to jump back in the cage shortly after.
“I think the whole reason that a lot of fighters, you know, tend to come out of retirement and back into the fight game is that they don't find something else to kind of replace that feeling of fulfillment and purpose in their life."
She added:
“So they go back to what they knew, what they had, and what they loved. But for me, I have Fightstory and for me, that's the greatest purpose I could have. It is, you know, helping people and it means a lot more to me than any you know world championship title or fight.”
Angela Lee’s legendary reign comes to an end and a new one begins
Making her ONE Championship debut in 2015, Angela Lee earned nine straight wins, including a title-winning performance against Mei Yamaguchi to become the promotion’s first-ever atomweight world champion.
During her six-year-long reign as champion, Lee earned victories over some of the biggest names in women’s combat sports, including reigning strawweight titleholder Xiong Jing Nan and three-sport world champion Stamp Fairtex.
Stamp went on to claim the atomweight title that Lee vacated at ONE Fight Night 14 in September, scoring a brutal body shot knockout against Ham Seo Hee in the evening’s main event.
If you’d like to learn more about Fightstory, visit the organization’s official Instagram.
