The MMA world already has said goodbye to many retiring fighters in 2023, from former UFC champions to icons of the sport.
MMA is a constantly evolving sport with a revolving door of athletes entering and exiting. Currently, fighters from the era who helped make the sport so popular are beginning to trickle away from competition and hang up their gloves in order to move on to the next chapter in life.
If there’s one thing that’s well known about combat sports retirements, though, it’s that they often don’t last long. The urge to compete, and perhaps more importantly get a payday, will continue to drive fighters back even well beyond their expiration dates.
2023 has seen an uptick in notable fighters announcing they are done with the sport, and we have a list of those who have opted to walk away this year (the list will update as new retirements are announced).
In MMA, it’s not often fighters retire while on top – never mind while they’re so young, too. Lee is an unusual MMA case study, but will likely always be viewed as a superstar in the ONE Championship history books.
MMA Junkie’s “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom, and Danny Segura joined host George Garcia break down Lee’s retirement, her legacy, and more.
Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full “Spinning Back Clique” episode below on YouTube or in podcast form.
ONE Championship has a star on its hands. Stamp Fairtex delivered a scintillating body shot vs. UFC alum Seo Hee Ham to win gold.
[autotag]Stamp Fairtex[/autotag] is an undisputed three-sport world champion, something that she didn’t think would be possible before ONE Fight Night 14‘s start.
Following the surprise retirement of Angela Lee just moments prior to her main event bout Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium, Fairtex (11-2) finished UFC alum [autotag]Seo Hee Ham[/autotag] (26-9) to clinch ONE Championship MMA gold.
The finish came at 1:04 of Round 3 and started with a straight right hand to the body of Ham, who was unable to bluff her way out of the damage. As Ham retreated, Fairtex took chase. Her attack of kicks and knees glanced off the body, but the moment she resorted back to the body punches, Ham folded.
ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong was joined by Lee in the cage after the fight in an impromptu passing-of-the-torch moment as the decision was announced. Fairtex, overcome with emotion, thanked Lee, a former opponent and said she always looked up to her.
THREE-SPORT World Champion 🏆
Stamp 🇹🇭 stops Ham Seo Hee in Round 3 to win the ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Title!#ONEFightNight14 | 🔴 Live Now 🇺🇸🇨🇦 Watch live on Prime 👉 https://t.co/Il4tPmkSbR 🌍 Live TV broadcast in 190+ countries (check local listings) 🌍 Also… pic.twitter.com/DelGoM5nHT
Fairtex, 25, has emerged as one of the fastest rising stars in Asian MMA, as she wins her third-straight MMA contest. Prior to the addition of the ONE Championship MMA title to her collection, Fairtex captured the promotion’s kickboxing and muay Thai titles.
Being an MMA star took a toll on Angela Lee, who recently opened up about her mental health struggles.
ONE Championship star [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] has announced her retirement.
At Friday’s ONE Fight Night 14 in Singapore, Lee made her return to the promotion but not for a fight. Lee made an emotional walk to the cage where she laid down her belt and broke news to the world that she’s done fighting.
“I’m here today to officially announce my retirement,” Lee said. “It has been an incredible eight years. I just want to say thank you to the fans, to ONE Championship, to Chatri (Sityodtong), to my teams, and to just everyone. There have been so many battles in and out of the cage.”
“The last thing I want to say is this, to the fighters and to everyone out there watching right now. The greatest battle that we’ll ever face won’t be with an opponent standing in front of us. The greatest battle will be within ourselves. We all go through struggles, but we all fight. Each day, we’re victorious when we choose to rise up in the face of adversity. So thank you guys so much. I love you. Thank you.”
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Lee, 27, entered ONE Championship for her pro debut in 2015 – at age 18. She quickly emerged as a potential prodigy. An undefeated 8-0 run to kick off her professional career set Lee up for a crack at the title, which she won when she defeated then-champion Mei Yamaguchi by unanimous decision in May 2018.
Though Lee lost her first defense attempt to Jingnag Xiong and her following bout vs. Michelle Nicolini, Lee bounced back when she avenged the Xiong loss, then defeated Stamp Fairtex.
Lee most recently competed in September 2022 when she lost a thrilling unanimous decision rubber match to Xiong. The trilogy was filled with action and has been highlighted by many viewers as some of the most exciting fights in the promotion’s history.
Since Lee vacated her 115-pound title, Friday’s ONE Fight Night 114 main event between Stamp Fairtex and Seo Hee Ham upgraded from an interim to undisputed championship bout.
For the first time, Angela Lee details the circumstances that led to her attempting to take her own life six years ago.
[autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag]’s 2017 car crash wasn’t an accident. It was a suicide attempt.
In a first-person article published Tuesday by The Players Tribune, Lee made the startling admission and opened up about the circumstances that led to her trying to kill herself.
Lee was 21 at the time and coming off the first two defenses of her ONE Championship atomweight title. She’d had a fight booked against challenger Mei Yamaguchi slated for November 24, 2017, in Singapore. As the fight drew closer, Lee put a lot of pressure on herself, especially to make weight, which “was the biggest thing in the world” to her.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about the shame that would result if I wasn’t able to make the fight,” Lee wrote. “As someone who had never missed any competition in her entire life, that terrified me. It became all-encompassing. And, ultimately, I got to a point where I would rather take myself out of the equation than deal with what might come.
“That’s where my head was at. It was all or nothing.”
Lee said “everything came crashing down on Nov. 6,” which she described as “the longest night of my life.” She was at home on the Hawaiian island of Oahu already trying to cut weight gradually in accordance with ONE’s hydration testing. And she was struggling – hard.
“I was trying to stay in the fight, mentally,” Lee wrote. “Trying to stay strong, but I felt myself slipping. I was terrified and exhausted and at my limit, and all of these negative, dark thoughts started flooding in.”
When the scale revealed that she still had 12 pounds to lose, it felt impossible.
“I broke. I didn’t care anymore,” Lee wrote. “I kept going back and forth with thoughts in my head. Talking myself in and out of possibilities. I wanted to escape. I told myself: I have to take myself out of this fight.
“And that’s when things got really bad.”
In the middle of the night, Lee said she went into a bathroom and tried breaking her own arm and giving herself a concussion so she could use an injury as a reason to withdraw from the fight.
“When those things didn’t work,” Lee wrote, “I decided to get in my car and leave it up to fate to see what happens next.”
Lee drove down a road near her house and found a spot to drive over a cliff. Lee said she hesitated to follow through on her first try and ended up driving back, this time pressing on her gas pedal as hard as she could to go through the guard rail.
Lee’s car flipped over five or six times, but she miraculously survived the crash with only a concussion and some minor burns. At the time and up until her admission, the story was that she fell asleep at the wheel. Lee said she was inspired by her younger sister, Victoria Lee, to create Fightstory, a nonprofit organization, earlier this year and come clean about her suicide attempt now. Victoria, a fellow former ONE fighter, took her own life at 18, which wasn’t publicly known until now.
“Fightstory is dedicated to speaking one’s truth, inspiring hope, and building a community for those struggling with mental health,” Lee wrote. “It was created to bring healing, awareness, acceptance, and support for those battling through their darkest times, and for their loved ones as well.
With Angela Lee’s fighting future uncertain, ONE Championship will crown an interim champ at ONE Fight Night 14 in September.
ONE Championship will crown an interim atomweight champion at ONE Fight Night 14.
Current atomweight champion [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag]’s fighting future is unclear following the untimely death of her sister Victoria Lee in December. Due to the circumstances, an interim title fight between [autotag]Seo Hee Ham[/autotag] and [autotag]Stamp Fairtex[/autotag] is set to headline the event on Friday, Sept. 1.
ONE Championship communicated the news to MMA Junkie on Wednesday. The event will air live on Amazon Prime Video at 8 p.m., but the location and venue is yet to be confirmed.
Stamp (10-2 MMA, 10-2 ONE) will compete for the third time in 2023, following a kickboxing split decision win over Anna Jaroonsak and an MMA knockout finish of Alyse Anderson at ONE Fight Night 10. Stamp previously challenged Lee for the title last March, but was submitted in the second round.
Ham (26-8 MMA, 3-0 ONE) will enter as a winner of nine straight bouts. The former UFC fighter will get her first shot at ONE gold in her second bout of the year. Ham started off her year with a unanimous decision win over Itsuki Hirata at ONE Fight Night 8 in March.
Victoria Lee, a highly touted ONE Championship prospect, died Dec. 26 at 18, her sister Angela revealed Saturday.
Rising mixed martial arts phenom [autotag]Victoria Lee[/autotag] has died. She was 18.
Lee’s death occurred Dec. 26, according to an Instagram post Saturday by her older sister, ONE Championship atomweight title holder [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag]. A cause of death has not been shared.
“She has gone too soon and our family has been completely devastated since then,” Angela Lee wrote. “We miss her. More than anything in this world. Our family will never be the same. Life will never be the same.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CnINSVoS21s/
The surname “Lee” bears much weight in the history of ONE. Angela and brother [autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] have held titles as two of the promotion’s biggest stars. Victoria was pegged as the next sibling to follow their path.
Scheduled to compete in her fourth MMA bout Jan. 14 at ONE on Prime Video 6, Lee had a 3-0 record in MMA. Lee debuted in February 2021 with a rear-naked choke submission of Sunisa Srisen. After a first-round armbar win over Luping Wang in July 2021, Lee picked up her first TKO against previously undefeated Victoria Souza in September 2021.
Prior to her pro MMA debut, Lee impressed at the junior level across multiple combat sports. She was two-time Hawaiian pankration junior world champion, a Hawaii state wrestling champion, and an IMMAF junior world champion.
According to an obituary posted on Valley of the Temples Memorial Park and Funeral Home (Kanahe, Hawaii), a celebration of life has been scheduled for Jan. 22 before her burial.
Check out these photos highlighting Xiong Jing Nan’s unanimous decision win over Angela Lee to retain the strawweight title at ONE on Prime Video 2.
Check out these photos highlighting [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag]’s unanimous decision win over [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] to retain the strawweight title at ONE on Prime Video 2 from Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapre. (Photos courtesy of ONE Championship)
May 9, 2020; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Henry Cejudo (red gloves) fights Dominick Cruz (blue gloves) during UFC 249 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
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The rubber match between Xiong Jing Nan and Angela Lee lived up to many people’s expectations – and exceeded others’.
For the third time, [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] and [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] squared off inside the cage – and for the for the third time fight fans were treated to some high-level, high-paced action.
Atop the ONE on Prime Video 2 event Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore, champion Xiong (17-3) and challenger Lee (12-2) competed in a trilogy rubber-match for the women’s strawweight title. When the dust settled, Xiong was declared winner by unanimous decision.
There was a lot of dust that was kicked up over the span of five, five-minute rounds, but initially it looked like the bout might be stopped early on in the contest.
In Round 1, Xiong swarmed Lee and even knocked her down. Lee was on the retreat for much of the round with referee Herb Dean close by. Somehow, Lee did just enough to survive.
Although things seemed grim for her as she came out of her corner for Round 2, Lee proved it all to be an illusion. She out-grappled Xiong until the round-end bell and nearly pulled off an anaconda choke.
In Round 3, the striking battle resumed. Xiong, like Lee, was not phased by one poor round. She landed effective striking on Lee once again. Meanwhile, Lee showed some of her better striking moments of the match.
The championship rounds rolled around but both fighters still looked fresh. Xiong’s boxing was crisp and effective, as she popped Lee in the face. Lee utilized her wrestling late as she shoved Xiong against the fence.
The final round brought as much violence as any. The two women traded blows, swollen, scratched, and bruised. As the clock winded down toward zero, the two signaled to the crowd. They threw their defense out the window and simply threw hands until the buzzer. Shortly thereafter, Xiong was declared the victor.
Xiong and Lee fought twice prior to Friday’s bout, with the fighters at one win apiece. Xiong won their first meeting with a TKO due to a body kick and punches in March 2019. Seven months later, Lee extracted her revenge with a fifth-round submission in October 2019.
With the win, Xiong extends her winning streak to four. Meanwhile, Lee moves to 2-3 in her most recent five.
The full ONE on Prime Video 2 results include:
MAIN CARD
Champion Xiong Jing Nan def. Angela Lee via unanimous decision – women’s strawweight title
Mikey Musumeci def. Cleber Sousa via unanimous decision – grappling title fight
Stamp Fairtex def. Jihin Radzuan via unanimous decision
Ilya Freymanov def. Martin Nguyen via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:33
Halil Amir def. Timofey Nastyukhin via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 0:58
PRELIMINARY CARD
Marat Grigorian def. Tayfun Ozcan via unanimous decision – kickboxing
Ho Taek Oh def. Ryogo Takahashi via split decision
Watch a live stream of the ONE on Prime Video 2 ceremonial weigh-ins and faceoffs featuring Angela Lee vs. Xiong Jing Nan.
The ONE on Prime Video 2 ceremonial weigh-ins and faceoffs take place Thursday (Friday locally) in Singapore, and you can watch a live stream of the festivities right here on MMA Junkie at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT).
The main event features a third encounter between champions as atomweight titleholder [autotag]Angela Lee[/autotag] challenges [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] for her strawweight belt, marking the first title-fight trilogy in the history of major women’s MMA.
You can watch Lee (11-2) and Xiong (17-2), as well as the rest of the card, step on the scale and face off in the video above.
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ONE on Prime Video 2 takes place Friday (Saturday locally) at Singapore Indoor Stadium. The entire event streams on Amazon Prime Video beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Below is the lineup of MMA bouts featured on the card:
Champion Xiong Jing Nan vs. Angela Lee – for strawweight title
