While ‘The Panda’ has managed to successfully defend her world title three times since their last encounter, it wasn’t exactly up to her usual standards. Xiong turned back challengers Tiffany Teo, Michelle Nicolini and, in her last outing, Ayaka Miura, in convincing but rather anti-climactic unanimous decision wins.

As far as Angela Lee sees it, the once feared killer in the 125-pound ranks has now lost her edge. “The Panda’, after all, sent shivers down her opponents’ spines when she steamrolled her way to the top of the division.

The 34-year-old Sanda specialist rarely needed the judges’ scorecards as she finished four of her first five fights inside the circle. The biggest feather in her cap, of course, came when she stopped the ‘Unstoppable’ in their first encounter, punishing her with brutal shots to the body for the TKO finish.

Xiong still has an impressive 50 percent finishing rate in her ONE Championship career, an average that has since been watered down by her previous three outcomes. That said, Angela Lee is extremely confident heading into her trilogy bout with ‘The Panda’ later today inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The pair will settle their differences in the headliner of ONE on Prime Video 2 for Xiong’s gold strap.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the Singaporean-American shared her perceptions about Xiong’s supposed weakened state as of late. Lee said:

Moreover, Angela Lee doubled down on her earlier comments about Xiong losing her killer instinct. She added:

Angela Lee fires back at critics who says she can’t take a body shot

Like Xiong, Lee also laid waste to the competition on her way to becoming the undisputed ONE women’s atomweight world champion.

The United MMA and Evolve MMA star was simply a cut above the rest. However, Xiong took away that aura of invincibility when she cracked her with a thudding body shot that led to her demise in their first fight.

Angela Lee once again looked human in her last world title defense against Stamp Fairtex. The Thai star also landed a body shot that sent her reeling in retreat. Now, some pundits are questioning if they found a chink in Lee’s impenetrable armor.

‘Unstoppable’ addressed this concern during the ONE on Prime Video 2 press conference:

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