SINGAPORE — Mixed martial arts fighter Angela Lee has apologised to fans in her first public comments since the 21-year-old was involved in a serious car accident in Hawaii on Monday (Nov 6).

One of the biggest stars in Asia-based promotion ONE Championship, Lee suffered concussion, minor burns and a “banged up body”, ruling her out of the Nov 24 title fight against Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

“I want to send an apology to my opponent, Mei Yamaguchi, the fans looking forward to the fight and my organisation, ONE Championship,” Lee, the ONE atomweight world champion wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.

“It was not my intention to withdraw from this fight and I will be back. Although I will not be fighting on the November 24 card in Singapore, I will still be in attendance, showing my support.”

Describing the incident which occurred on Monday, the Canadian-born fighter, who is of Singaporean and Korean descent, said that she had woken up at 4.30am to drive to her gym — which is located about 6km from her house in Mililani — and had fallen asleep at the wheel.

“I dozed off, woke up and, the next thing I knew, my car had hit the guardrail and flipped over about six times,” said lee, who fights under the stable of Singapore gym Evolve MMA.

“I am so grateful that no one else was hurt. It’s also a miracle that I’m still here today, alive and well.”

While Lee had come under fire from some commenters for her “irresponsible driving”, she said: “I admit that I shouldn’t have been driving if I was tired... At the time, however, I was not aware of how tired I really was.”

ONE Championship chief executive Chatri Sityodtong confirmed on Wednesday that a replacement fighter will be found for Lee’s match against Yamaguchi, while the bout between Singaporean fighter Amir Khan and Australian Adrian Pang will be moved up to the co-main event for the ONE: Immortal Pursuit event this month.

Meanwhile, Lee has vowed to come back stronger after this incident.

“Physically I may look a little banged up but I know that these scars and bruises will heal rather fast, she said. “The majority of my time spent healing will be focused more on my emotional and spiritual state of mind.

“This incident was truly an eye opener. Like every obstacle or adversity in life, I will face it and I will overcome it. I will learn from it and it will be used as a lesson.”