ONE women’s atomweight world champion Angela Lee recently discussed the growth of combat sports in the US state of Hawaii. ONE Championship has been a major growth point for the sport in the Pacific state.
The Singaporean-American fighter spoke in an interview on Food Truck Diaries, hosted by Brendan Schaub on his YouTube Channel, where she explained:
“In Hawaii, they know ONE because there’s a lot of ONE Championship fighters from Hawaii and they’re just fight fans in general. But because Christian and I, we teach classes at United.”
ONE Championship fighters such as ONE lightweight world champion Christian Lee and ‘Unstoppable’ Angela Lee have been major contributors to the sport’s growth in Hawaii. The state has a rich history with MMA, including notable fighters such as B.J. Penn, Max Holloway, Enson Inoue, and Lowen Tynanes, among others.
However, Lee explained that the next generation in Hawaii has been inspired by fighters competing in ONE. She continued:
“The next generation coming up, they’re exposed to seeing us fighting in ONE and you know there’s other options [that] I think it’s important that they have and it’s not just UFC. When I first started doing MMA everyone was like, ‘You do UFC? that’s cool.’ I was like, ‘No man, it’s MMA, it’s different.’”
ONE women’s atomweight world champion Angela Lee and growth through motherhood
The next fight for atomweight queen Angela Lee will see the mom-champ go up in weight to challenge Xiong Jing Nan for the ONE women’s strawweight world title. The fight will take place at ONE on Prime Video 2 on September 30.
Ken Lee, the father of Christian, Angela, and Victoria, recently discussed how being a mother has benefited ‘Unstoppable’. He said that she has grown into a stronger person and fighter.
In an interview with ONE, he said:
“Her opponent is just focusing on the fight and drilling, she’s maybe up at 3 a.m. nursing and then getting up and training again. So, she definitely has grown a lot as a person. She’s much stronger, and I’m very proud of her.”
The proud father also added:
“It has affected her as a person. You know, she’s matured from a young girl into a young, loving mother, and all the benefits and attributes that come with that. She’s become a lot more patient. She, of course, has to put her child first.”
See the full interview with Angela Lee below: