ONE Chief Has Heartwarming Reveal In Remembrance Of Victoria Lee On Her 19th Birthday

The passing of mixed martial arts (MMA) prodigy Victoria Lee continues to be felt across ONE Championship, and on the day of her 19th birthday, promotion CEO and chairman Chatri Sityodtong has plans of honoring her memory.

In a Facebook post on May 17 at 9:00 PM ET, Chatri made three announcements.

The first will be that the organization will be celebrating Victoria Lee Day every January 13, the date of her return bout against Zeba Bano at ONE Fight Night 6 after taking a nearly two-year hiatus to focus on her high school studies.

Alongside Victoria Lee Day, ONE Championship will also be handing out the Victoria Lee Award to "the ONE athlete who goes above and beyond the call of duty in giving back to his/her community through charitable efforts and contributions."

In addition, the first recipient of the award will be revealed later in the year.

To close it all out, Chatri also declared that Evolve MMA, the gym that he founded, will be giving scholarships to "deserving youths who wish to pursue their dream of becoming a world champion in martial arts."

Applicants for the scholarship will be coming from youth and amateur MMA organizations around the world and must be under 18 years of age.

Those interested to apply must submit an essay to the email address that can be found on Chatri's post explaining why they deserve to be granted a scholarship and why they wish to continue Lee's legacy.

January 7 will forever be remembered as a sad day in the world of MMA as ONE women's atomweight champion and oldest sibling Angela Lee tragically revealed that Victoria had passed on December 26, 2022 at age 18 in Hawaii.

The cause of her death was not revealed then and is not expected to be made public any time soon.

Tributes for one of the youngest fighters under ONE Championship's umbrella began pouring in on the same day that Lee disclosed her sister's passing, with established stars like Eduard Folayang, Brandon Vera and Martin Nguyen offering their condolences on social media.

Touted as one of the brightest stars in the company's future, Lee showcased everything that she had learned from older siblings Angela and Christian in her three fights, all of which were victories–two by submission and one by technical knockout.