Angela Lee is one of the most popular MMA fighters in ONE Championship history and the promotion’s atomweight world champion recently revealed that she made a suicide attempt back in 2017. She was coming off her second title-defense at the time of the incident and was one of the biggest names on the sport at an incredibly young age. In fact, it was rumored that she signed the highest contract for a teenager in MMA history upon becoming the promotion’s inaugural atomweight world champion. Many professional fighters have spoken publicly about the mental strain that comes with being a reigning champion and it seems as though Lee has experienced that herself.
Angela Lee actually revealed her suicide attempt in a recent interview with The Player’s Tribune:
“My car crash in November 2017 was not an accident, it was a suicide attempt. I was getting ready for my last title defense of the year, things started to snowball for me. Pressure, stress, and expectations all began to build up. I had tunnel vision and thought that this upcoming fight was the most important thing in my life. Looking back now, I had everything I could have wanted at the time, but I didn’t realize it. Didn’t fully appreciate it. Because I had gotten to a place where making weight for that fight was the biggest thing in the world to me.”
“I told myself: If you don’t get this done, you’ll lose everything, and as an athlete, in all honesty, that mentality can be useful and motivating. But it’s also a double-edged sword. And with me, I got to a point where I had pushed my mind and body too far. I couldn’t stop thinking about the shame that would result if I wasn’t able to make the fight. As someone who had never missed any competition in her entire life, that terrified me. It became all-encompassing. And ultimately, I got to a point where I would rather take myself out of the equation than deal with what might come. That’s where my head was at. It was all or nothing.”
Angela Lee also revealed the news of her suicide attempt in 2017 as part of a short documentary made by Fight Story:
