ANGELA Lee truly looked “Unstoppable” against “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan in their rematch last Sunday, Oct 13.
The Singaporean superstar who was on a two-match losing streak knew she had to put an end to that barren run. And Lee prevailed with a performance that left the millions worldwide on the edge of their seats.
“I’m just so happy. It feels like a complete blur of events that just happened,” the 23-year-old ONE Atomweight World Champion said.
“I pushed hard every single round, and I knew I had to finish this woman. I knew she was going to be tough, but I wanted to go for the finish.”
Despite Xiong connecting with her swift boxing in the opening stanza, “Unstoppable” kept her Chinese adversary on the back foot. In the second round, the Evolve MMA athlete began hunting for a submission attempt to influence the contest.
As Lee started dominating the match in round four, “The Panda” refused to follow suit, unchaining a couple of combinations that dropped Lee.
The fifth and final stanza was a different story altogether, as the defending World Champion’s game plan was stifled by the Bali MMA athlete.
Still, “Unstoppable” refused to quit and took control of the round as the seconds wound down. Then Lee slammed her opposition to the canvas, won her opponent’s back, and slid in a rear-naked choke.
With only 12 seconds on the clock, Xiong tapped. And before Lee knew it, she was covered in gold confetti for the first time since May 2018.
“I truly believe it’s all in the preparation, and that was the main difference between the fight in March and the fight here today,” she said.
“I trained harder than ever for this fight. I was able to push the pace in each round, and I felt confident. The worst feeling you can have going into the next round is, ‘Oh my god, I’m gassed, my legs aren’t working, what do I do?’”
“I didn’t have that feeling. I didn’t have any doubt, and I was able to stick to the game plan.”
Now that she has leveled the score with Xiong, the Hawaii State Wrestling Champion wants to renew her attempts to be ONE Championship’s first women’s two-division World Champion.
“I want to be champion [at atomweight] forever, but for me, I’m not content here,” Lee said.
“I truly feel that I have something to prove at strawweight, and I want to go after it, even if my first two matches didn’t go my way. I’m not discouraged. I’m going to come back and make a statement in the strawweight division.”
