Michelle Nicolini Thinks She Has The Mental Edge Over Angela Lee

We are just a day away from Michelle Nicolini’s match with “Unstoppable” Angela Lee at ONE: MASTERS OF DESTINY, and the Brazilian is confident she has the key to victory.

Before the eight-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion faces the ONE Atomweight World Champion this Friday, 12 July, she sat down with ONE Championship commentator Michael Schiavello to break down the co-main event contest.

The 37-year-old revealed that she had arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to acclimatize after a 26-hour journey from Sao Paulo, and she expected a great match.

However, she was quick to brush off the assessment that this will be a pure battle of her ground game against her rival’s striking.

“I don’t know if that’s fair because she finishes on the ground in most of her fights. Stand up or ground game – I think we’re going to put on a show,” Nicolini explained.

She also dismissed the suggestion that her win in their grappling match in 2016 was instructive about how their mixed martial arts encounter would play out.

“A lot of people ask me about the grappling competition in Macao, but that was a long time ago, and I think she has made a lot of improvements as I did as well,” she explained.

“I didn’t think about that Macao grappling fight. I have a lot of confidence for the fight, but not because of that one.”

Nicolini has not stepped under the lights in The Home Of Martial Arts since November, but she believes that has worked to her advantage.

In those nine months, she has had the opportunity to work with her team at Vila Da Luta, and study her upcoming opponent’s performances to figure out a strategy to get the win.

“Since my last fight against Tiffany [Teo] last November, I wasn’t in a rush to fight again because I wanted to train my stand-up, my footwork, and my wrestling more – so this is what I improved most.”

“I think Xiong Jing Nan exploited her mentality more than anything – she knew how to play with that, and that’s our game plan as well.”

The legendary ground-game specialist concluded with a confident prediction about how she would win, but she remained coy about the exact technique she will use.

“I think [I will win] by submission – I don’t know [what kind] yet!”