- The 17-year-old Adrian, also a rising MMA prospect, posts first public tribute to sister who died on Boxing Day
- Victoria wrote she was ‘super proud of my little bro’ in her final Instagram post after he won amateur title just days before her death
Adrian Lee has paid tribute to his older sister Victoria Lee, the ONE Championship star who died aged 18 on Boxing Day.
The 17-year-old Adrian – also a rising mixed martial arts prospect known as “The Phenom” – posted a picture of himself and his sister as young children on Instagram.
The duo are pulling silly faces in the picture, which is undated.
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“Most loving person I know!” he wrote in the caption for his post last week.
Adrian is the first member of the Lee family to comment since Angela Lee – ONE’s 26-year-old atomweight MMA champion – confirmed the news of Victoria’s death on January 7.
Victoria, who was set to return to action last month in Bangkok, wrote she was “super proud of my little bro” in her final Instagram post, just days before her death, after he won an amateur MMA title in Hilo, Hawaii.
Christian Lee, the 24-year-old ONE lightweight and welterweight MMA champion, had also lauded his younger brother, who claimed the Toughman pankration world title with a second-round guillotine.
‘I wasn’t ready to say goodbye’: Angela Lee’s moving message for sister
“ONE Championship, get ready to add another world champion to the roster,” he wrote on Instagram in December. “Another pankration world title to add to his resume. I’m lucky to be a part of his journey.”
Adrian was in Christian’s corner when “The Warrior” claimed his second divisional title in Singapore in November with a fourth-round TKO of Kiamrian Abbasov.
“That’s the thing about my family,” Christian said during a post fight online media scrum after that win. “We’ve got four siblings, we’re all doing what we love to do and everybody is writing their own path.
“My sister, she’s the current atomweight champion, she’s doing amazing in her career. My little sister, she’s gonna be back in the ring soon, and you guys are gonna see my little brother before long.
“My family, we work extremely hard and each of us is doing what we love on our own path. The work we put in shows for itself, so I don’t think any one of us is focused on what our family is doing. Each of us are just doing our own thing.”
All three of Adrian’s siblings made their pro debuts with Singapore-based martial arts promotion ONE after impressive runs on the amateur circuit.
They have all been coached by their father, Ken Lee, at the family’s United MMA Hawaii gym – which has reportedly “permanently closed” after Victoria’s death.
The 26-year-old Angela (11-3) debuted first, in 2015, and won the promotion’s atomweight title with a decision defeat of Mei Yamaguchi a year later, when she was just 19. She has since defended her belt four times, most recently with a submission of Stamp Fairtex.
In her last fight, she lost a decision to Xiong Jingnan in a second failed bid to win the promotion’s strawweight belt from the Chinese “Panda”.
The 24-year-old Christian (17-4) debuted several months after Angela in 2015. After an impressive run through the featherweight division, he captured the lightweight belt with a TKO defeat of Shinya Aoki in 2019. He then defended it twice before losing it with a controversial decision loss to Ok Rae-yoon last year.
He reclaimed the belt with a lopsided second-round TKO of Ok in August, and in November, climbed up to welterweight, where he defeated Abbasov.
Victoria, who was only a year older than Adrian, signed with ONE in 2020, and went on to beat Sunisa Srisen, Wang Luping, and Victoria Souza, all by stoppage in 2021.
She was expected to fight Zeba Bano at ONE Fight Night 6 on January 14 in Bangkok before her death.
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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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