SINGAPORE - Angela Lee retained her One Championship women's atomweight title in spectacular fashion, forcing Istela Nunes to tap out to an anaconda choke in the main event of the Dynasty of Heroes show at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday (May 26).
With Singapore's Olympic swimming gold medallist Joseph Schooling walking out with Lee and in her corner, Lee, 20, made it clear from the opening bell that she was not going to give up her belt easily against the Brazilian challenger.
After a dominant display in the first round which saw her raining down blows and punches while pinning Nunes onto the canvas, Lee wrapped up the victory 2min 18sec in the second round by a well-executed submission.
Lee then fell on her knees as she celebrated her second successful title defence since clinching the crown at the same venue last May.
Lee, who is born in Canada and raised in Hawaii, said of the victory: "It means the world to me."
"I got the finish and I cannot ask for anything more than that.
"There were a lot of things that happened leading up to the fight, a lot of unexpected things that I didn't have control of.
"I actually got pretty sick leading up to the fight. I was on antibiotics and stuff so I was fighting through that. It was just a very tough battle with myself, overcoming my own doubt.
"I didn't know if I had it in me. But I trusted in my training, trusted in my team, my coaches and I just went out there and got the job done."
In the co-main event, American Ben Askren took 2min 20sec to beat Malaysian Agilan Thani and defend his welterweight belt.
Homegrown mixed martial arts fighters Amir Khan and Tiffany Teo delighted thehome crowd when they won their respective bouts.
Khan, 22, representing Evolve MMA, took just 1min 29sec to destroy India's Rajinder Singh Meena. Khan, who had just completed his national service on May 4, looked sharp as he took his opponent down and finished him off with a ground-and-pound in their lightweight bout.
Teo's strawweight contest with American Rebecca Heintzman-Rozewski went the full three rounds and the result went to he judges' scorecards, awarding the victory to the 27-year-old Singaporean via unanimous decision.
Teo extends her perfect career win-loss record to 6-0.
After his fight, Khan even said he was hardly tested. Earning whoops from the 11,000-strong crowd at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Khan said: "Going into this fight, I knew I would win. But it was easier than I had expected. I wanted to just take my time."
With his latest win, which stretches his winning streak to four fights, Khan is hungry for bigger fights. He said: "I want to face one of the top guys out there. I want to prove myself that I belong to one of the top dogs."
