ONE CHAMPIONSHIP: ADRIAN LEE TO CONTINUE FAMILY LEGACY, WITH TEEN SET TO BECOME FOURTH SIBLING TO COMPETE
- Christian Lee holds lightweight and welterweight titles but has not fought since 2022
- Angela Lee was reigning atomweight champion but retired at 27 to focus on non-profit organisation
Adrian Lee has been added to the ONE 167 card and will follow in the footsteps of three of his older siblings when he fights for the promotion for the first time.
The 19-year-old will take on Antonio Mammarella, who is 1-0 as a professional and 5-1 as an amateur, as he begins his MMA journey along a road he hopes will lead to becoming the third member of the Lee family to win a title.
Christian Lee holds the ONE Championship lightweight and welterweight belts but has not fought since 2022. Angela Lee was the reigning atomweight champion when she decided to retire from the sport at the age of 27 to focus on her non-profit organisation, FightStory.
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Victoria Lee fought three times for ONE Championship, winning all three, but took her own life on December 26, 2022, just days before she was scheduled to compete. She was just 18 years old and neither of her older siblings have competed since.
So, there will inevitably be a lot of scrutiny on Lee, who will be making his professional debut but has won titles competing in MMA as an amateur in his native Hawaii.
The teen holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and won the Hawaii High School Athletics Association's 160lbs title at a high school wrestling tournament last year.
There are two title fights on the card which takes place at Impact Arena on June 8. In the main event, Stamp Fairtex has been matched with Denice Zamboanga in a fight that will have the charismatic Thai fighter's atomweight title on the line.
The co-main event will be an all-Thai affair. Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym is putting his featherweight Muay Thai belt on the line in a rematch with Jo Nattawut, who he narrowly beat last year.
Another popular Thai fighter will be in non-title action. Reigning flyweight Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon is facing Denis Puric in a kickboxing bout.
ONE 167, Bangkok, June 8
MMA: Stamp Fairtex (c) v Denice Zamboanga (for atomweight title)
Muay Thai: Tawanchai P.K.Saenchai (c) v Jo Nattawut (for featherweight title)
Kickboxing: Rodtang Jitmuangnon v Denis Puric (flyweight)
Submission Grappling: Mikey Musumeci v Gabriel Sousa (bantamweight)
Muay Thai: Johan Ghazali v Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat (flyweight)
Muay Thai: Liam Harrison v Katsuki Kitano (bantamweight)
MMA: Kade Ruotolo v Blake Cooper (lightweight)
MMA: Adrian Lee v Antonio Mammarella (lightweight)
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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2024-04-19T03:39:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd
