Angela Seung Ju Pucci (née Lee, Chinese: 李胜珠, Korean: 이승주, born July 8, 1996), also known as Angela Lee Pucci, is a Canadian-born American combat sports mental health advocate and former professional mixed martial artist. She competed in the atomweight and strawweight divisions of ONE Championship, where she was the inaugural ONE Atomweight World Champion. Undefeated at atomweight, Lee successfully defended the belt five times before vacating the title when she retired from the sport in September 2023. She holds the record for longest-championship reign in ONE history at more than seven years.
On May 5, 2016, Lee became the youngest person to ever win a world title in MMA by defeating Mei Yamaguchi to win the inaugural ONE Atomweight World Championship at 19 years old and 9 months. When her younger brother Christian Lee won the ONE Lightweight World Championship in May 2019, they became the first sister-brother pair of mixed martial arts world champions. Following the death of her younger sister Victoria, Lee announced her retirement from MMA at ONE Fight Night 14 on September 30, 2023.
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Background
Lee was born in Vancouver to a Chinese-Singaporean father Ken Lee and a South Korean-born Canadian mother Jewelz Lee. She moved to Hawaii with her family at age 7. Her parents are both martial artists, so she began training at a young age and competing at age 6. Her younger brother Christian is also an MMA fighter and her other younger brother Adrian (born in Waipahu), also trains in martial arts. Lee's younger sister Victoria, who was also a mixed martial artist signed to ONE, died in 2022 at the age of 18.
In 2011, Angela Lee won her division at the USA Amateur pankration national championships, and the next year, she claimed her division at the World Pangration Athlima Federation world championships in Greece. Lee was awarded her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt on February 9, 2018, by third-degree black belt Mike Fowler and her father Ken Lee, who is also a black belt.
Mixed martial arts career
In 2014, Lee made her amateur debut, and in November of that year she won an amateur title by beating Audrey Perkins at Destiny MMA: Na Koa 7 in Honolulu to become the Destiny MMA strawweight champion.
ONE Championship
Lee signed with ONE Championship in 2014 and made her promotional debut at ONE Championship 28: Warrior's Quest on May 22, 2015, submitting Aya Saber with an armbar in the opening round. She competes under Singapore flags.
Following the win, Lee dropped out of college in Hawaii (she was studying business) and moved to Singapore to join Evolve MMA. In her next fight, she used a rear naked choke hold to beat Mona Samir at ONE Championship: Odyssey of Champions on September 27, 2015, in the first round.
Lee's third professional fight was at ONE Championship 33: Pride of Lions on November 13, 2015, and she submitted Natalie Gonzales Hills with a twister in the opening round in what commentators described as a potential submission of the year contender. She subsequently won the 2015 WMMA Press Award for Submission of the Year.
Next, she faced Lena Tkhorevska at ONE Championship 36: Spirit of Champions on December 11, 2015, and won with a rear naked choke in the second round. Lee's first fight of 2016 was against Rebecca Heintzman at ONE Championship 39: Tribe of Warriors on February 20, 2016, and she won with a second round neck crank.
Lee's reward for submitting her first five opponents was a shot at the inaugural ONE Championship Atomweight Women's Title against Japanese veteran Mei Yamaguchi at ONE Championship 42: Ascent to Power on May 6, 2016. Winning the fight would make her the youngest-ever MMA world champion.
Lee won the fight by unanimous decision to become the inaugural ONE Women's Atomweight Champion, and received a $68,200 SGD bonus for her performance. The MMA media described her fight with Yamaguchi as a Fight of the Year contender. She subsequently signed a new contract with ONE Championship. Commentators speculated that her new contract made Lee the highest paid teenager in the history of MMA, male or female.
On March 11, 2017, Angela Lee defeated Jenny Huang of Taiwan and retained the Atomweight World Championship title. On May 27, 2017, she was successful in her second title defense against Istela Nunes of Brazil.
Personal life
Lee holds American and Canadian citizenship. She is married to fellow mixed martial artist Bruno Pucci. On October 1, 2020, Lee announced on her social media that she was pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter in April 2021. Both Lee and her husband are head coaches at United BJJ Hawaii, a gym that they founded in 2021. The opening of their gym was delayed by several days as the result of vandalism just prior to the date.
Lee's younger brother Christian is the reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion and ONE Welterweight World Champion. Her youngest sibling, Victoria, made her successful MMA debut at the age of 16 on February 26, 2021. On January 7, 2023, Lee announced on Instagram that Victoria had died on December 26, 2022. The Lees shut down their family-owned MMA training facility in Waipahu, Hawaii, and said it would remain permanently closed.
On September 19, 2023, Lee wrote in an article on the Players' Tribune that her 2017 car crash in Hawaii was a suicide attempt, and also revealed that her sister Victoria, who died in 2022 at the age of 18, had taken her own life. These incidents motivated her to set up a non-profit organisation, FIGHTSTORY, putting out podcast and videos on mental health, as well as a programme to help people with their nutrition and physical health.
Championships and accomplishments
Pankration
World Pangration Athlima Federation World Championships:
2012 Agon (full contact) Girls, 16-17 yrs, 58 kg - Champion.
2012 Semi (semi contact) Girls, Juniors, 58 kg - Champion.
Folkstyle wrestling
HHSAA Wrestling Circuit
2013, 121 lbs, Girls - Champion.
Mixed martial arts
Amateur Career
Destiny MMA Women's Strawweight Championship (One time)
ONE Championship
ONE Women's Atomweight World Championship (One time; inaugural)
Five successful title defenses
Longest-championship reign in ONE history (2,703 days)
Performance of the Night (One time) vs. Stamp Fairtex
2016 Fight of the Year vs. Mei Yamaguchi
2022 MMA Fight of the Year vs. Stamp Fairtex at ONE: X
WMMA Press Association
2015 Newcomer of the Year
2015 Submission of the Year vs. Natalie Gonzales Hills
World MMA Awards
2018 Comeback of the Year vs. Mei Yamaguchi at ONE Championship: Unstoppable Dreams
MMA Junkie
2016 #4 Ranked Fight of the Year vs. Mei Yamaguchi at ONE: Ascent to Power
2016 May Fight of the Month vs. Mei Yamaguchi