Eight-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Michelle Nicolini is prepared to make her way up the ONE women’s strawweight division following a triumphant outing at ONE: Masters Of Destiny in Kuala Lumpur on 12 July.

Nicolini impressed the martial arts world with a dominant display over ONE Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee to earn a unanimous decision win over her 23-year-old adversary.

She is aware that a title shot is out of the picture since ONE Strawweight World Champion Xiong Jing Nan will drop a division to take on Lee at ONE: Century in October, but she is ready to prove why she should challenge for the belt in the future.

“I’m here to compete against anyone ONE Championship wants me to fight against in the strawweight division,” the 37-year-old Vila Da Luta athlete said.

“Whenever they want me to fight, I’ll be ready. Maybe October, November, or December,” Nicolini added. “I’ll be ready for that. I know it won’t be a title shot yet, but I hope I could get to it soon.”

The BJJ black belt is only eight bouts into her mixed martial arts career, but she has shown why she remains one of the most dangerous athletes in the grappling department after earning five wins by submission.

Grappling aside, Nicolini felt that Lee might have underestimated her striking skills – particularly with the history among the two since she and Lee trained alongside each other during a Muay Thai class.


“Overall, I think she was never worried about my striking as she was more worried about my ground game,” Nicolini said. “But she definitely knows now that I have power in my hands as well.”

Despite the enormous win, Nicolini admitted that the Singaporean athlete managed to bring the best out of her throughout the encounter.

“Angela’s position was good, but I was always confident in my position, whether from the top or on my back. I felt like I locked out her arms and defended very well,” Nicolini said.

“She is fast, but my experience and skills were enough to handle someone like her.”