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ONE Championship: Angela Lee reveals 2017 car crash was suicide attempt, confirms sister Victoria took her own life

  • ONE’s atomweight MMA champion reveals car crash that ruled her out of November 2017 title defence was attempt to take her own life
  • Lee, then aged 21, says she was struggling with her weight cut for the fight, and ‘didn’t want to be a disappointment to anyone’

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Angela Lee (right) with her sister Victoria Lee during training at their family’s United MMA gym in Hawaii. Photo: Instagram
ONE Championship atomweight champion Angela Lee has revealed her 2017 car crash was a suicide attempt, and confirmed publicly for the first time her 18-year-old sister Victoria Lee took her own life.
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“The Prodigy” Victoria Lee, who was 3-0 as a fighter in martial arts organisation ONE, died on Boxing Day last year. Angela Lee confirmed the news on January 7, but the family did not make public the cause of death.
The 26-year-old has not fought since, and has been contemplating retirement. She is set to make “a big statement” on her future next week in Singapore, where she will attend ONE Fight Night 14.

“It’s taken me a long time to get to this place, but I’ve now reached a point where I am comfortable and confident enough to speak the full truth,” Lee wrote in an article for The Players Tribune.

“Six years ago, I tried to end my life.”

Angela Lee celebrates after defeating Brazil’s Istela Nunes at Singapore Indoor Stadium on May 26, 2017. Photo: Xinhua
Angela Lee celebrates after defeating Brazil’s Istela Nunes at Singapore Indoor Stadium on May 26, 2017. Photo: Xinhua

Then aged 21, Lee was ruled out of a November 2017 title defence against Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi in Singapore, after being left with concussion and minor burns, as well as an injured back, from a car crash in Hawaii just a few weeks out from the fight.

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