Angela and Christian have got company!
Please welcome IMMAF Junior World Champion Victoria Lee @angelaleemma
@ChristianLeeMMA
#WeAreONE
#ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/2w406oIem5— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
September 17, 2020
One
Championship loves the Lee family, and the Lee family loves One
Championship.
On Thursday morning, the promotion revealed via press release that
it had signed Victoria
Lee, the younger sister of champs Christian
Lee and Angela Lee.
The youthful fighter has not made her professional MMA debut, but
she will be competing at promotion’s atomweight division of 115
pounds, where her sister A. Lee is the champion. She does not
currently have an opponent scheduled nor does she have a date set
for her debut. It is not uncommon for international fighters to
have their professional debuts prior to their 18th birthday, and
One
recently featured Supergirl Jaroonsak Muaythai on a card at the
age of 16.
About her signing, Lee put out a statement, where she said, “I feel
extremely excited and motivated to be part of the world’s largest
martial arts organization, One Championship.” She continued,
“Inspired by watching my older brother and sister compete on the
biggest global stage of martial arts competition, I am ready to
take my career to the next level and compete with the world’s best
martial arts athletes. I want to thank my parents for teaching me
and guiding me, and for allowing me to chase my dreams. I promise
all the fans that I will continue to train hard and develop my
skills, and that I’ll be ready when I get the call to step inside
the One circle.”
While she has no professional experience, she won a gold medal at
the 2019
IMMAF Youth MMA Championships in the 125-pound B division.
According to the promotion, she has taken home a pair of Pankration
Junior World titles, but due to the frequency of Pankration events
it cannot be determined which ones she participated at and won. Per
her biography on the
United MMA Hawaii team page, she won a USFL National Pankration
title in 2019 in California. The USFL lists that there were
two competitors in the 123-pound Cadet girls division at U.S.
National Championships event on June 22, 2019, and Victoria Lee won
a decision over Jayleen Martinez that day.
While One states that she was a 2019 Hawaii State Wrestling
champion, that year
she placed third at 117 pounds. In 2020, she did win the
Hawaii State Wrestling Championship in the 117-pound division.
The young prospect has also competed 15 times in the expert
category – which requires three years or more of grappling
experience – of the North American Grappling Association, likely in
the teen divisions due to her age.
Angela
Lee was elated at the signing of her sister, writing, “I am so
happy for Victoria and extremely proud of her. She is a very gifted
and driven young woman. She told us that this is her dream – to be
a professional fighter – and as a family, we are going to support
her fully. Victoria is a gifted athlete and everyone will be
witness to that when she makes her debut. Throughout time, there
have been a handful of gifted young Olympians, many years younger
than their competitors, but they managed to rise above and shine
through with their god-given talent, dedication, and hard
work.”
She concluded, stating, “I have confidence in our Coach, our family
and in Victoria that she is ready for this next level of
competition.”