ONE Championship atomweight world champion Angela Lee may find herself defending her title next May against popular video game character Chun Li.
Or rather, someone who dresses up like the Street Fighter character in her pre-fight walks out to the ring.
ONE chief executive Victor Cui said that the Singapore-based mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion is considering pitting Taiwanese fighter Jenny Huang against Lee, 20, who fights under the Singapore flag.
Cui said in a recent interview with The New Paper: “There are a couple of opponents that we are looking at, who are strong considerations.
“One of them with a recent win is Jenny Huang, but we’d really have to see how the other fighters shape up in the next two cards.”
Lee created history in May this year when she became ONE’s first female champion after beating Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi at the Indoor Stadium.
Huang, 25, is unbeaten in her five professional MMA bouts so far, the last a second-round submission win by gogoplata, a type of choke hold that uses the shin bone, over April Osenio in Manila earlier this month.
Huang said: “(A title bout) is my dream destination; it has been my target since I started practising MMA, and when that moment arrives, I believe I will be ready.
“From the moment I started my professional career, I have treated every bout I fought in as a championship fight.”
While Lee is likely to defend her title on May 26 at the Indoor Stadium, where she enjoys good crowd support, Huang does not think the partisan audience will affect her.
She pointed to her last fight, when she beat Filipina Osenio on her home ground.
“In that fight, instead of being nervous I was calm in the ring and was able to keep my own rhythm,” said Huang, who has seven years of experience in judo, and three in MMA.
“So, I don’t think (Lee’s) home ground advantage would count a lot for me.”
sayheng@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Dec 19, 2016.
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