At this point in time, we are over half way through the year 2023, and there has been no announcement made regarding whether or not reigning ONE women’s atomweight world champion ‘Unstoppable’ Angela Lee or ONE lightweight and welterweight world champion Christian ‘The Warrior’ Lee will return to competition within the Circle.
After the untimely passing of their younger sister, Victoria Lee, who competed for ONE Championship, the famed Lee siblings have decided to put their entire careers on hold for the time being. Victoria Lee passed away at the end of December of last year.
Since the traumatic event occurred, of course the whole family is in grief and hasn’t even entertained the idea of getting into a fight.
Chatri Sityodtong, chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, disclosed in a recent interview with South China Morning Post that he has had brief discussions with the Lee family regarding whether or not they will resume their careers. The Lee family is a family of professional mixed martial artists.
Sityodtong feels that Angela may be finished and is heading toward retirement; nonetheless, the Thai-Japanese entrepreneur stated that Christian has declared his intent to return to action sometime in 2024. Sityodtong believes that Angela may be done and is moving toward retirement.
Having said that, the head honcho of ONE Championship was successful in obtaining Christian’s authorization to establish interim world titles in his place.
Sityodtong said:
“Therefore, I did go to Christian and beg for his approval. Fights for interim titles are definitely going to take place. Both the lightweight and the welterweight categories.”
Christian dominates both the lightweight and welterweight divisions in ONE Championship. He is the undisputed champion of both weight classes.
At the event ONE 160 in August 2022, he defeated his longtime adversary Ok Rae Yoon with an inspiring first-round knockout performance, which earned him the lightweight strap. A few months later, he defeated Kiamrian Abbasov to win the welterweight championship and become the first boxer in history to hold world titles in two different weight classes.
With Christian’s approval, both groups can carry forward with their work until the time comes for him to make his inevitable comeback.
