Relishing Expectations

It has become impossible to ignore Angela Lee’s rise under the One Championship banner over the last 12 months. One of the faces of the Singapore-based promotion, the 20-year-old has taken life as champion in stride since she captured the atomweight title in an epic five-round thriller against Mei Yamaguchi in May 2016.

A little more than a year later, the undefeated Lee looks to defend her crown for the second time at One Championship “Dynasty of Heroes,” where she meets Istela Nunes de Souza this Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Despite the fact that she struck Jenny Huang into submission in her most recent appearance just two months ago, the champion seems comfortable with the quick turnaround.

“I’m very excited to get back in there after my first title defense two months ago,” Lee told Sherdog.com. “At the beginning of my career, I was used to competing back to back. This has been a really great camp for me. I’m looking forward to the fight night.”

Souza may be a relative newcomer to the One Championship roster, but Lee shares a mutual opponent with the Brazilian: Yamaguchi.

“I was actually there on the night that they fought,” Lee said. “My brother was fighting on the same card. It was a very close fight. I definitely see holes in Nunes’ game that I will be looking to expose on May 26. I’ve been training very hard for her.”

While there are perks to newfound stardom, there can be great distractions, too. Due to her growing celebrity, Lee has been a staggering favorite for many of her bouts. Despite the age and inexperience disparity with Yamaguchi ahead of their title fight, over 73 percent of the fans polled picked Lee to win. Expectations continue to build, but Lee claims she does not feel burdened by her growing status in the MMA universe.

“I don’t think it’s a lot of pressure, really,” she said. “For me, it’s an honor to have all of this weight on my shoulders. It allows me to step up and be a good role model and champion. Honestly, it’s been such a crazy journey. Since I first made my debut to where I am now, it feels like everything has gone by so fast. I’m just loving every second of my journey.”

One Championship has made Lee one of its focal points from day one. It makes for a difficult balancing act at times.

“It’s definitely going to be big when I arrive in Singapore,” she said. “My schedule is always packed with media interviews, photo shoots and other obligations like that. On top of that, I also have to fit in time for training and for rest. It’s a pretty packed schedule. It’s unbelievable to see how fast the MMA scene has grown over there in the last three to five years. It’s completely taken off. It’s skyrocketed; they’ve got really diehard fans over there. It’s great to see that kind of support.”

Lee raised her profile further by showing a willingness to swim into deep waters in her unforgettable encounter with Yamaguchi. The match quieted critics who claimed the promotion was protecting her.

“I’ve learned so much from that fight,” Lee said. “I got a lot of experience from fighting Yamaguchi in terms of the fight game. Just being in a five-round war like that allows you to gain so much. I guess I underestimated the pressure that would be on me going into that fight, but knowing that I could go through that and still come out with the victory was a great feeling. It gave me so much confidence heading into my first title defense in March. Now, I have even more confidence ahead of my second title defense.

“People’s opinions change like the wind,” she added. “I don’t worry about it. I’m just going to keep winning, and slowly I’ll prove each one of those people wrong.”

Recently, One Championship founder Chatri Sityodtong called for a cross-promotional bout between Lee and Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Such a matchup seems impossible with the two women signed to different organizations. However, Lee sees the need for fighters to be able to compete against each other freely, no matter which promotion has them under contract.

“That would be the ideal situation for fighters,” she said. “If there were no contradictions with organizations whatsoever and people could fight whoever they want to fight, that would be perfect. Fighters want to test themselves, and the fans would love it. Will it happen? Who knows what’s going to happen in the future? Of course I would be open to fight Joanna. I’m open to fighting anyone.”

For now, Lee’s mind remains fixed on Souza.

“I feel like I’m not even halfway to my potential as a fighter,” she said. “This year is going to be huge, and next year is going to be even better. I’m going to keep working hard, and I’m sure the results will show that.”