Teen MMA sensation Angela Lee fights misconceptions about women in the sport
The 19-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, who has numerous world titles to her name, says she hates it when people think it is just about "chicks with barely any clothes on" in a cage.
By Justin Ong
POSTED: 20 Aug 2015 21:32 UPDATED: 20 Aug 2015 21:33
SINGAPORE: Nineteen-year-old Angela Lee sports a "kawaii" look and is no stranger to the occasional bikini photoshoot to promote her career, but it is her cage-fighting prowess that she wants to be known for.
The mixed martial arts (MMA) athlete impressed on her professional debut in May at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, defeating the taller, older and more experienced Egyptian Aya Saber in less than two minutes.
Lee, who is signed to Singapore-based MMA promotion One Championship, holds a brown belt in the ground fighting style of Brazilian jiu-jitsu - just one level shy of a black belt. Since her parents started coaching her at three, she has won numerous world titles in various disciplines like wrestling and pankration.
Even with such credentials, the Canadian-American citizen of Singaporean-Korean ethnicity bemoaned how she attracts attention “for the wrong reasons”.
“When people watch women’s MMA, sometimes they’re like ‘Oh, chicks with barely any clothes on and in a cage fighting, that’s super hot’,” she said. “I hate that so much.”
“Hopefully over time, they can recognise us for our skills instead of our looks,” added Lee, who is training at Singaporean gym Evolve MMA to prepare for her sop****re fight on Sep 1, against Russian exponent Elena Pashnina in Shanghai, China.
ASIAN PRIDE
While she aims to become the first women’s champion of One Championship, she is also eager to grow MMA’s presence in Asia by emulating the impact made by the sport’s biggest female superstar Ronda Rousey.
The latter remains undefeated in her reign as the first women’s champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the world’s largest MMA company. As an Olympic medallist in judo and budding movie actress, Rousey is also credited with bringing MMA into mainstream consciousness.
“I want to do that in Asia. I’m hoping to rise up and inspire women over here to train MMA, so we can get more recognition,” said Lee, who was quick to add that she had no wish to be an “Asian Ronda Rousey”.
“There are only one or two female bouts on fight cards in Asia and I want to get more fights on there for the women,” she added.
Angela Lee after winning her debut fight. (Photo: One Championship)
Lee’s own heritage, however, has been a bone of contention for online detractors, with some calling her out as more American than Asian.
One Championship labels her “Singaporean” in its promotional materials. Lee, who was born in Vancouver and raised in Hawaii, brands herself “Singaporean” and “Korean” on her Instagram account.
“I don’t like to categorise myself with one thing, because I’m not just that. It’s all a part of who I am,” she explained. “But my grandparents live with us all the time and my dad’s Singaporean, so we’ve always had an interest in Singapore, especially in its cooking and culture.”
“I want to fight and represent who I am and where I’m from, so Singapore, mostly, because I’m closer to my dad’s side,” said Lee, adding that her family has been “coming back” to Singapore every year since she was a baby.
“Hopefully if I can go past the boundary of people categorising me by nationalities, I can gain more popularity here in Singapore,” she said.
Lee is clearly serious about her career - enough to drop out of her business administration degree course at a Hawaiian university, to focus on MMA alone.
“I can always go back and get my degree. For now I have an opportunity and I’m not going to waste it,” she said. “My parents are very traditional in some ways but in others, understanding. They know that this is what I’ve always wanted to do, and I want to put my all into it.”
Angela Lee with her family at the Evolve MMA gym. (Photo: One Championship)
- CNA/jo
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