Angela Lee pulled from ONE Championship main event bout with fellow champ Jingnan Xiong

Angela Lee will have to wait a little longer to try to make history at ONE Championship.

The atomweight champion was set to face strawweight titleholder Jingnan Xiong in the main event of Friday’s ONE Championship: Heart of the Lion at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore, but ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced on Monday that Lee was declared medically unfit to fight after suffering an injury.

”I have made the decision to pull Angela off the card, despite her adamance to compete still in the world title fight against ONE strawweight world champion Jingnan Xiong,” Sityodtong wrote on Facebook. “We all know that Angela is a warrior with an unbreakable spirit. However, she suffered a serious back injury in training last week and badly herniated a spinal disc; she was unable to walk just a few days ago.

”Doctors suspect that the injury originally happened last year when Angela’s car flipped five times on the highway in her near-death accident. If it was up to her, she would still compete this week, even if it meant walking into the cage on crutches. In fact, she is still insisting on competing. However, safety is the #1 priority at ONE. On a personal level, I care deeply about the long-term health of our athletes, and would never put our athletes in any compromising situations. Please join me in wishing Angela a speedy recovery to full health!”

With a bantamweight title bout between Bibiano Fernandes vs. Kevin Belingon now elevated to the main event slot, Sityodtong announced that Christian Lee vs. Kazuki Tokudome has been added to the event as the co-main event.

Check Sityodtong's full statement below.