An injury discovered a week before the fight kept Angela Lee from attempting to become the first female two-division world champion in One Championship.
The only benefit from the injury is if she does pull off the feat, it will happen on the biggest mixed martial arts card in company history.
Asia’s largest MMA organization debuts in Japan on Sunday with Lee trying to make history in a strawweight world title fight against Xiong Jing Nan in the co-main event of ONE Championship: A New Era at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
The historic sumo hall will host One Championship’s largest card to date, featuring four world title fights and the debuts of former UFC world champion Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez.
The 15-fight card climaxes with the undefeated Lee (9-0, 9-0 One), a Mililani alumna and the atomweight world champion, in the penultimate fight challenging Jing Nan (13-1, 4-0), a knockout artist who has only gone the distance in four of her 13 wins.
“This matchup between me and Xiong Jing Nan has been in the mix for a while now,” Lee said at Thursday’s press conference at the Ritz Carlton in Tokyo. “Unfortunately I had to overcome a back injury but fast forward about five months and here I am.”
ONE CHAMPIONSHIP: A NEW ERATokyo • Today, 8:30 p.m. Hawaii time
Co-main Women’s strawweight world championship
Angela Lee (9-0, 9-0 One) vs. Xiong Jing Nan (13-1, 4-0)
Jing Nan originally pursued a weightlifting career before discovering boxing. That led to mixed martial arts, where she has secured six of her wins without going past the first round.
“I will prove I am the best one,” Jing Nan said through a translator. “Angela and I will bring the best out of us.”
The fight was originally scheduled for November, but Lee was forced to withdraw after meeting with doctors, who determined a back injury suffered in training was too serious for her to fight.
This will be just her second fight in 22 months, but Lee isn’t concerned with the time off, or the move up in weight.
“We’ve been training for Jing Nan for a while now and I think her style and my style match up perfectly,” Lee said. “I believe that we’re both very aggressive, forward-pressure fighters and we’re going to meet in the middle of that cage on Sunday night and we’re going to see what happens.”
The undercard begins at 8:30 p.m. Hawaii time today. Lee’s fight will happen early Sunday morning.
The event is available to watch live in the United States on the One Championship mobile app.
