ONE Championship: Angela Lee Prepared For Mei Yamaguchi Rematch Wherever It Goes

ONE women's atomweight champion Angela Lee is confident of victory ahead of her title rematch with Mei Yamaguchi this week.

Lee (8-0) defeated Yamaguchi (17-10-1) via unanimous decision to win the title when they first met in May 2016 in what was an entertaining back-and-forth encounter. In the process, she also became the youngest MMA world champion in history at 19 years of age.

A little over two years later, they will finally run things back as Lee hopes to finish the only opponent to have taken her the distance at ONE: Unstoppable Dreams this Friday in Singapore. However, she will let the win come naturally rather than trying to force a finish.

"Wherever this fight goes, I'm prepared," Lee told International Business Times. "I'm not going to purposely drag the fight out to make it another five round decision, I'm not going to go in there trying to go for the knockout or the submission, it's just going to come naturally."

Now 21, Lee is continually growing as a martial artist but despite Yamaguchi being 14 years the senior, the former does not agree with the belief that the younger fighter usually wins the rematch if they win the first meeting.

"Well, in this case, yes it's going to happen," Lee said laughing. "But no, I don't necessarily think so but I know I've done all the preparation I need and I know she's trained hard for this as well so I'm going to get the best of her and it's not going to be enough."

With ONE welterweight champion Ben Askren's quasi-retirement, given his hopes of still wanting to prove he is the best 170-pounder in the world, Lee is seemingly the biggest mainstream face for ONE Championship, particularly in the West as of now.

However, the Hawaii native does not necessarily agree with this notion and is simply happy with the support she has received from the Singapore-based promotion.

"Mainstream? I don't know man, right now ONE Championship, I've had so much support from them over the years and they just continue to support me and my career and the growth as a professional athlete and I'm very grateful for that," she explained.

As for what potentially comes next after Friday, Lee is still open to a crossover fight with the best the UFC has to offer. When Joanna Jedrzejczyk was still the UFC women's strawweight champion, ONE CEO and chairman Chatri Sityodtong repeatedly invited a potential champion vs. champion bout.

And with Rose Namajunas now the 115-pound queen, having defeated Jedrzejczyk twice, Lee is confident of her ability against her as well.

"I did see the second fight [between Namajunas and Jedrzejczyk at UFC 223], I think they're both amazing athletes but I am 100 percent confident in myself and my skillset and I believe I am the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world," she said.

"That's not in my hands but you know me, I'm always down to fight anyone," she added of when a crossover fight could potentially happen.

Lee's brother Christian will be fighting in the co-main event as he faces two-weight champion Martin Nguyen for his featherweight title as wins for the duo could see them become the first sibling champions in MMA.

Christian was conducting an introductory workshop Wednesday alongside Amir Khan on the sidelines of a partnership launch ceremony between ONE Championship and SGX Bull Charge, who will serve as the organization's official fitness partner.

Unstoppable Dreams can be streamed live for free around the world on ONE's official app available on iOS and Android devices.