It was belatedly known that Victoria Lee (18, Korean name Lee Seon-hee), an American fighter who has been called a ‘prodigy’ in the mixed martial arts world, died at the age of 18.
According to the US CNN broadcast on the 9th (local time), Lee’s older sister Angela passed away on the 26th of last month through Instagram on the 7th.
Angela said: “Lee left too soon. After his death, our family is completely devastated. Our family will never go back to the way it was. Life will never be the same.”
The cause of death is still unknown.
An Asian American born to a Korean-Canadian mother and a Chinese-Singaporean father, Lee signed a contract with the mixed martial arts group ‘One Championship’ at the age of 16, setting a record as the youngest fighter ever.
Active in his hometown of Hawaii, he won the ‘Hawaii Pankration Junior World Champion’, ‘Hawaii State Wrestling Champion’, and ‘IMMAF Junior Champion’ one after another.
In September of last year, he again drew attention by defeating Brazilian player Victoria Suza by TKO, and then took a break from activities to focus on graduating from high school.
CNN reported the news of Victoria’s death and introduced her family as a ‘fighting family’. According to CNN, his older sister, Ann Zella, holds the One Championship Atomweight world title, and her brother, Christian, is also a One Championship lightweight champion.
Lee Bo-bae, Hankyung.com guest reporter [email protected]