Victoria Lee, a promising mixed martial arts fighter, is dead at 18. Lee died on the day after Christmas in an announcement by her family on Jan. 7, confirming the tragic news. Lee was a high school state wrestling champion in Hawaii and competed in the ONE Championship promotion.
Lee’s sister, One Championship atomweight world champion Angela Lee, said Lee died on Dec. 26. Angela did not share a cause of death. The Valley of The Temples Memorial Park and Funeral Homes in Kaneohe, Hawaii also announced Lee’s death on Friday, reports the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“She has gone too soon and our family has been completely devastated since then,” Angela wrote of her sister on Instagram. “We miss her. More than anything in this world. Our family will never be the same. Life will never be the same.”
Lee was “the most beautiful soul who ever lived,” Angela continued, adding that she was the best godmother and aunt to her two children. “We miss you so much, sis. More than you could ever realize. We’re all broken,” Angela wrote. “Because a piece of you was in each of us and when you left, those pieces were ripped out of us. We will never be the same.”
Angela asked fans to give her family privacy in this difficult time. “And please, check on your loved ones. Keep checking on them,” she wrote. “Give them hugs and tell them how much they mean to you. You just never know.”
Lee was a graduate of Mililani High School and won Hawaii’s junior wrestling championship in 2019 and 2020. She made her One Championship debut at 16 and had a 3-0 record, including one TKO. She was scheduled to fight for the first time on over a year on Jan. 13 in the One on Prime Video 6 event in Thailand. Her brother, Christian, also holds the world lightweight and welterweight One Championship titles.
“I am heartbroken by Victoria Lee’s passing,” ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong said in a statement Saturday. “I first met Victoria when she was 11 years old. I watched her blossom over the years as a martial artist and a human being. I always remember thinking how wise, thoughtful, and selfless she was beyond her years.”
“Of course, she was an extraordinary martial arts prodigy even back then, but I could see that she was so much more than that,” Sityodtong continued. “Victoria had the purest heart of gold and a brilliant mind. She looked after others before herself. She wanted to use her life to help the world. I will always remember Victoria for the beautiful and precious soul that she was.”
