On Saturday, ONE Championship announced plans for a huge title fight in the women’s strawweight division, as atomweight champ and superstar Angela Lee will move up to face Xiong Jing Nan.
ONE Championship is continuing its recent trend of booking super-fights and champion vs. champion battles. On Saturday’s ONE Championship: Beyond the Horizon broadcast, the promotion announced that Xiong Jing Nan, who retained the strawweight title at the event, would face Angela Lee this November. Lee currently holds the promotion’s atomweight title, and with the retirement of Ben Askren, is arguably the company’s biggest star.
“I’ve got to practice like hell when nobody notices me, but when they do, that means that I am ready,” Jing Nan said in the ONE ring Saturday when asked about the prospect of facing Lee.
The bout is tentatively set for November in Singapore, where Lee will have the crowd firmly in her corner. Lee (9-0), born in Canada, is a Singaporean-American who resides in Hawaii. ‘Unstoppable’ has fought her entire career in ONE, winning the atomweight title in her sixth professional fight, against Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi. Lee has defended the title three times, most recently in a rematch against Yamaguchi.
‘The Panda,’ as Xiong Jing Nan is known, defended her title for the second time at Beyond the Horizon in Shanghai, China on Saturday. A third round TKO of Brazil’s Samara Santos, she improved her record to 12-1, and is now on a seven fight win streak.
It’s unquestionably the biggest fight ONE Championship could make at the moment, and promises to be an exciting affair. Both fighters are finishers, with Jing Nan known for her punching prowess, and Lee a wizard on the ground.
