LAS VEGAS – Dan Ige is disappointed to see how some people have reacted to Victoria Lee’s death.
Lee (3-0) unexpectedly died on Dec. 26 at 18. A cause of death has not been released. The ONE Championship rising star, the younger sister to fellow ONE fighters Angela and Christian Lee, was scheduled to compete this past Friday at ONE on Prime Video 6.
A fellow Hawaiian, Ige says he didn’t personally know Victoria, but he knows her family. And he took aim at those conspiring the cause of Lee’s death and urges them to show her family some respect.
“Honestly, it’s super hard,” Ige told reporters after his win at UFC Fight Night 217. “I never knew Victoria. I know Christian, I know Angela, I know her husband, I know their dad. When that news came out, a girl being so young, 18, tons of potential, loved by so many, it’s just heartbreaking because that’s one of our own. I pray that people give them the respect, because on social media everyone wants to come up with the conspiracy.
“Was it the vaccine? Was it mental health? Was it this? Was it that? Like, give them freaking respect, because that’s their tragedy, that’s their loss. … Give them some respect. An 18-year-old girl passes, and they’re going to mourn that for the rest of their lives. We’re going to wake up Monday and f*cking read the newspaper, ‘What’s next?’ They have to mourn that. It’s an absolute tragedy. They were definitely weighing on my heart, and the only thing you can do is pray for them, because she’s gone, and there’s no bringing her back.”
Ige (16-6 MMA, 8-5 UFC) snapped a three-fight losing skid in impressive fashion in this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 217 co-main event when he knocked out Damon Jackson in Round 2.
