The perfect prodigy: Victoria Sun-Hei Lee, 18
The death of a young person is antithetical to the chronology of life.
Death is never easy. The death of a young person is especially heartbreaking and traumatic.
How could this happen? Why did this happen? Why wasn’t Victoria spared?
No more birthdays, graduations or wedding days, just a miasma of agony and grief.
A family totally shattered, speechless and shaking with emotions.
She was 18.
On 26 December 2022, her short life which was full of potential and promise came to an end.
Her record stood at 3-0; for perpetuity, it will stand.
As her sister, ONE Atomweight World Champion, Angela Lee puts it, “she has gone too soon, and our family has been completely devastated since then”.
She rattled off three-straight stoppage wins in 2021 to make her professional debut.
She was also an International Mixed Martial Arts Federation Junior World Champion, a two-time Pankration Junior World Champion, Hawaii State Wrestling Champion, a fifteen-time 15x North American Grappling Association Expert champion and holds a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
At the age of 18, she was already a composed, accomplished and professional MMA fighter. At the time of her passing she was the youngest athlete on MMA’s roster – so much was expected of her fighting career.
So much future and so much possibility that is now forever gone.
In fact, she was poised to make a comeback on later this month (Jan 14) in Bangkok.
2023 was touted as her year. Soon enough, she will become the face of the promotion.
But alas, a bright light, the “most beautiful soul who ever lived”, extinguished.
The impulse was to talk about her professional fighting career, but she was more than just that. She was the “best little sister in the world”, “the best daughter”, “the best granddaughter” and the “best godma/aunty to Ava and Alia”.
Nicknamed the “Prodigy”, she should be remembered as the perfect prodigy.
The Lee family is, today, in a place they would never have imagined, much less prepared for.
As Angela so poignantly stated, with a tinge of indivisible regret, in her tribute to her sister, “And please, check on your loved ones. Keep checking on them. Given them hugs and tell them how much they mean to you. You just never know”.
The Lee family will be changed forever. One MMA Championship will be changed forever.
We’re all broken.
Victoria Sun-Hei Lee, you are our perfect prodigy.
Top image: One Championship
