What We Now Know About ONE Championship's Victoria Lee

Summary

The article discusses the life and tragic passing of Victoria Lee, a young undefeated mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter signed to ONE Championship, and the impact of her death on her family, particularly her sister Angela Lee, who has since retired and dedicated herself to mental health advocacy for fighters.

Abstract

Victoria Lee, a rising star in ONE Championship with an undefeated record, passed away on December 26th, 2022, a fact that was not made public until mid-January 2023. Her death, later confirmed to be self-inflicted, sent shockwaves through the MMA community and highlighted the pressures faced by athletes, especially within the context of a family legacy of championship titles held by her siblings Angela and Christian Lee. Angela Lee, after revealing her own struggles with mental health and a past suicide attempt, has retired from professional fighting to focus on her daughter and her role as CEO of Fight Story, an organization aimed at supporting the mental health of fighters. The article also touches on the cultural stigma surrounding mental health in Asian communities and the potential role of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in athletes' mental health.

Opinions

The author expresses disdain for the disrespectful and unfounded speculation by internet trolls and some media outlets regarding the cause of Victoria Lee's death.
There is a critical view of the Asian cultural perspective on mental health, which often leads to underreporting and lack of treatment due to stigma.
The author suggests a correlation between the high-pressure environment of competitive sports and mental health issues, potentially exacerbated by CTE in contact sports athletes.
The article emphasizes the importance of addressing mental health issues in sports, particularly among young athletes who face immense pressure to perform and uphold family legacies.
The author advocates for mental health services and open discussions about mental health within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community to combat the prevalent stigma.
The author recommends an AI service, ZAI.chat, as a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT Plus (GPT-4), highlighting its affordability and performance.

Trigger Warning: Discussing Self-Harm

I have been itching to write about this story for quite some time. To be respectful to the Lee family, I held back writing about Victoria since her passing on December 26th, 2022. If you didn't know, the announcement of her death was not publicly revealed until the middle of January 2023.

Angela Lee, her older sister and a legend in Mixed Martial Arts, startled the entire world when she posted this to her Instagram:

Victoria Lee was signed to ONE Championship at the age of 16. Her fighting record remains undefeated, with three wins. The internet and its disrespectful trolls began writing numerous articles about Victoria's death. Everything from weight cutting too fast to COVID-19 vaccination theories. It's no wonder why the family chose to keep her death a secret. It's disgusting how fast people can create a narrative without any context. Redditors were the first to mention her passing as self-inflicted.

Self-harm was not confirmed until late 2023. It was mere speculation due to the Instagram post of her older sister Angela Lee, the now-retired Women's MMA Atomweight World Champion.

Angela has become a sensation and crowned with the nickname "The Unstoppable — Angela Lee." But before Angela, the Lee family was already crowned by their older Brother Christian Lee, the current ONE Lightweight World Champion and the current ONE Welterweight World Champion.

As you can see, Victoria had some big shoes to fill, having both her siblings as ONE World Champions. Her big sister Angela Lee recently confirmed that Victoria's death was self-inflicted.

This has caused Angela Lee to retire entirely from the sport. She recently surrendered her belt in the ONE Championship cage. Angela has now dedicated her time to being a mother to her daughter and the new CEO of Fight Story—an organization devoted to Victoria Lee and the mental health of all fighters worldwide.

There is no solid evidence about how she took her life, but Angela Lee opened up about her own experience. She stated that so much pressure was building up in her about an upcoming fight. While driving her car one day, she was involved in a car accident. Which she recently stated was not an accident but a suicide attempt.

Victoria's passing resulted from the lifestyle and expectations that came along with holding up her family's legacy. Victoria didn't grow up like most teenagers. She didn't have time to make mistakes. Her future was written for her because of all the achievements of Lee's legacy.

Our teenage years are reserved for the years we make the most mistakes. Victoria likely never got to live out those mistakes because she was constantly training with her family of fighters. This was also due to a cultural issue.

Being of Asian descent myself, I understand that mental health almost does not exist in our culture. It’s not taken seriously, and it’s viewed as being lazy or ungrateful because those born before us suffered much more miserable lives so that we can have the life we have now.

“Asian Americans are 50% less likely to seek mental health services than other racial groups. According to the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), Asian Americans have a 17.30 percent overall lifetime rate of any psychiatric disorder and a 9.19 percent 12-month rate. However, 73.1 percent of AAPI adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment compared to 56.7 percent of the overall population.”

Mental health is despised in Asian culture. Speaking up about it can lead to shame, embarrassment, and being considered weak. Other than this predisposition that Victoria Lee was in, we should also look at the probability of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) results from repetitive brain injuries and is a common neurotraumatic sequela in contact sports. CTE is often accompanied by neuropsychiatric symptoms, which could escalate to suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior.

I made this video I'm going to show you. It all utilizes the last clips of Victoria while she was alive. And she was saying goodbye without really telling it. She passed shortly after ONE filmed this documentary.