Angela Seung-Ju Lee is a Canadian-American mixed martial artist of Chinese-Singaporean and Korean heritage who is currently competing in ONE Championship. Although she holds Canadian and American citizenship, Lee has licensed to represent Singapore in sports. Born in Vancouver to a Chinese-Singaporean father and a Korean mother, Lee moved to Hawaii at age 7. Her parents are both martial artists, so she began training at a young age and competing at age 6. Her younger brother Christian is also an MMA fighter and her two other younger siblings, Victoria and Adrian, also train in martial arts. In 2011, Angela Lee won her division at the USA Amateur pankration national championships, and the next year, she claimed her division at the World Pangration Athlima Federation world championships in Greece. On May 5, 2016, she became the youngest person to ever win a world title in MMA by defeating Mei Yamaguchi to win the ONE Women's Atomweight Title. As of June 2017, Fight Matrix ranks her #14 female MMA Strawweight in the world. Lee was awarded her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt on February 9, 2018, by third-degree black belt Mike Fowler and her father Ken Lee, who is also a black belt.
In 2014, Lee made her amateur debut, and in November of that year she won an amateur title by beating Audrey Perkins at Destiny MMA: Na Koa 7 in Honolulu to become the Destiny MMA strawweight champion.
ONE Championship
Lee signed with ONE Championship in 2014 and made her promotional debut at on May 22, 2015, submitting Aya Saber with an arm bar in the opening round. Following the win, Lee dropped out of college in Hawaii and moved to Singapore to join Evolve MMA. In her next fight, she used a rear naked choke hold to beat Mona Samir at on September 27, 2015, in the first round. Lee's third professional fight was at on November 13, 2015, and she submitted Natalie Gonzales Hills with a twister in the opening round in what commentators described as a potential submission of the year contender. She subsequently won the 2015 WMMA Press Award for Submission of the Year. Next, she faced Lena Tkhorevska at on December 11, 2015, and won with a rear naked choke in the second round. Lee's first fight of 2016 was against Rebecca Heintzman at on February 20, 2016, and she won with a second round neck crank. Lee's reward for submitting her first five opponents was a shot at the inaugural ONE Championship Atomweight Women's Title against Japanese veteran Mei Yamaguchi at on May 6, 2016. Winning the fight would make her the youngest-ever MMA world champion. Lee won the fight by unanimous decision to become the inaugural ONE Women's Atomweight Champion, and received a $68,200 SGD bonus for her performance. The MMA media described her fight with Yamaguchi as a Fight of the Year contender. She subsequently signed a new contract with ONE Championship. Commentators speculated that her new contract made Lee the highest paid teenager in the history of MMA, male or female. On March 11, 2017, Angela Lee defeated Jenny Huang of Taiwan and retained the Atomweight World Championship title. On May 27, 2017, she was successful in her second title defense against Istela Nunes of Brazil. On November 8, 2017, Chatri Sityodtong announced that Angela Lee was involved in a serious car accident after she fell asleep at the wheel of her car. She managed to survive the incident with a concussion and minor burns. Lee's bout with Mei Yamaguchi that was scheduled for November 24 has been rescheduled to May 18, 2018, at One Championship Unstoppable Dreams in Singapore. Lee won via unanimous decision. Lee was expected to face reigning strawweight champion Jingnan Xiong at ONE Championship 78: Heart of the Lion on November 9, 2018, in an attempt to become the first female two-division champion in ONE Championship. However, on November 5, 2018, Lee revealed that she was forced off the card due to a back injury. The fight eventually happened on March 31, 2019, at. Lee was defeated via TKO in round 5, which snapped her undefeated streak. At ONE Championship: Masters of Destiny, Angela Lee suffered another defeat at the hands of Michelle Nicolini, via unanimous decision. Lee next defended her ONE Atomweight Championship against Xiong Jingnan – whose Strawweight Championship Lee failed to capture – at on October 13, 2019. She won the fight by submission in the fifth round.
Championships and accomplishments
Amateur pankration
World Pangration Athlima Federation World Championships:
