“I Definitely Want to Capture the Strawweight Belt” – Angela Lee Eyes ‘Champ-Champ Status’ in a Trilogy Bout Against Strawweight Queen Xiong Jing Nan

“Unstoppable” Angela Lee capped off yet another successful World Title defense last month. Now, the Singaporean-American superstar has her heart set on a fresh challenge.

In a recent interview with ONE, the ONE Atomweight World Champion expressed her desire to tango with the Strawweight queen, “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan, for the third time.

And she truly believes that the third time will surely be the charm.

“I definitely want to capture the strawweight belt. So I’d love to fight Xiong again and step up to strawweight and try to capture that champ-champ status,” the 25-year-old said.

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“I think that I have grown a lot more in these past few years and made a lot more improvements than she has, and I think it can show in our performances. So definitely, when we match up again, it’s going to be a different story, and I think everyone is eager to see it.”

Lee and Xiong share one win apiece in their rivalry that dates back to ONE’s first venture into Japan in March 2019. At ONE: A NEW ERA, the United MMA and Evolve MMA standout moved up a weight class to challenge the Chinese athlete for her gold.

Unfortunately for the longtime Atomweight queen, she was bested by Xiong’s striking, eventually losing the tie via TKO at 1:37 of the fifth stanza.

Seven months later, however, Lee flipped the script. She took out “The Panda” with a late rear-naked choke submission to defend her World Title.

Angela Lee is ready for Xiong Jing Nan but also has her eyes set on the Atomweight division

Xiong has since defended her ONE Strawweight World Title three more times, while Lee’s win over Stamp at ONE X on March 26 was her first appearance in the Circle after a two-and-a-half-year layoff to focus on the birth of her daughter, Ava Marie.

That time off did not seem to interrupt Lee’s progress, and her highlight-reel finish over the surging #1 contender has only made her more motivated to continue taking bigger names.

Lee will likely put her gold on the line again this year, but she’s also eying a date against Xiong to seal her status as a two-division queen.

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Nothing seems certain at this point. But “Unstoppable” admits that she would be open to either option in her next appearance on the global stage.

“Also, there’s a lot of atomweights in the division now, so I’d love to keep defending my title, but I’d like to see the strawweight division grow, just like the atomweight division has grown,” she said.