Last December 2022, the martial arts world was shaken to its core by the news that rising ONE Championship star Victoria Lee had passed away. Months after that painful tragedy, her sister, Angela Lee, has decided to talk about it and her own struggles with mental health.

In a heartfelt narration written on The Player’s Tribune, the ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Champion revealed that her near-fatal car accident in 2017 was, in fact, a suicide attempt. At the time, Lee was living up to her “Unstoppable” moniker, having won eight straight bouts on her way to the inaugural divisional strap and gone on to defend it twice.

ONE Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee recalls a near-fatal experience a year after her sister Victoria Lee’s untimely passing

Before her World Title defense against Mei Yamaguchi in November 2017, news surfaced that the then-21-year-old had crashed her car on a notoriously dangerous stretch of a road in Hawaii. At the time, it was reported that she had fallen asleep while driving to the gym. 

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This week, she revealed that, though even her family was made to believe it was an accident, it wasn’t, and only her husband, Bruno Pucci, was made aware that she had attempted to take her own life. “It’s been six years, and although I’ve done a lot of growing and healing since then, it’s still difficult to think about, let alone talk about,” Lee wrote. “Because I survived, it was difficult to go on and live life as normal because no one really knew what had happened.”

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“Unstoppable” would go on to do amazing things in her career following that devastating night, and she still dominates the atomweight ranks in ONE up to today. However, Victoria’s tragic passing made her rethink her life once again.

Angela Lee commemorates and honors her late sister and ONE FC prodigy Victoria Lee through ‘Fightstory’

In The Player’s Tribune piece, Lee shared for the first time that her younger sister’s passing was a suicide. Though the Lee family has gone through an unimaginable loss, Angela thought it right to honor Victoria’s memory by establishing a non-profit organization she has called Fightstory. 

“Fightstory is a mental health non-profit organization created by combat athletes for fighters of all walks of life to share their story, inspire hope, and build a community for all to thrive in their mental and physical wellness journey. We believe stories can save lives,” Lee said.

Victoria was a promising young star who appeared to have all the tools needed to become a global superstar before her death, and according to Angela, she also had multiple talents outside combat sports. She was a huge loss not only to the Lee family but also to the entire combat sports world, and Angela wants Fightstory to be a vehicle to continue her legacy.

“Fightstory was created because of Victoria. She was the most selfless person I knew. She would want her passing to mean something, to save lives,” she said.

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