Denice Zamboanga will witness a former teammate and a former rival mix it up for a prize she also has her eyes on at ONE Fight Night 14. Stamp Fairtex and Ham Seo Hee will meet to contest the ONE Interim Women’s Atomweight MMA World Championship in the main event of the star-studded card on Friday, September 29, and the Filipino star will be watching intently.
Denice Zamboanga talks history with Stamp Fairtex and Ham Seo Hee
Zamboanga and Stamp trained together at the Fairtex Training Center before her move to Marrok Force, so she knows that the former two-sport ONE World Champion works hard and plays hard. “Training with Stamp is fun. She’s very playful. But when there’s a fight coming up, she’s serious about it,” she revealed in an interview with ONE. “In the training camp, Stamp is a beast. She works very hard and takes things very seriously. She’s always focused, which is different from what fans see on social media.”
Zamboanga also knows a thing or two about Ham, as the South Korean’s first two bouts in the world’s largest martial arts organization were against her. The pair battled through six rounds, with Ham narrowly winning the first encounter before dominating the rematch to close the book on their rivalry. With experience working alongside and against both fighters, “The Menace” offered her thoughts on their upcoming World Title tussle.
“I think Stamp is going to win this fight because she’s the more well-rounded fighter. Her aggression will overpower Ham. That being said, Ham is great at reading opponents. She can figure out an opponent’s style and adapt. And she’s physically very strong,” Zamboanga said. “I see a knockout win for Stamp Fairtex via a body shot. I’ve felt Stamp’s body kicks in training, and it’s a knockout blow. I know how that feels, and it’s not good.” Whoever emerges victorious at ONE Fight Night 14 will be only the second woman to hold the atomweight MMA belt, albeit in an interim capacity.
Zamboanga’s championship ambition plans to dethrone Angela Lee
Whether or not reigning World Champion Angela Lee returns to unify the belts remains to be seen, but Zamboanga is already calling her shot at the gold down the line. The TREX MMA representative breezed through her first three bouts in ONE and was anointed as the next challenger for Lee’s coveted belt. However, “Unstoppable” took a leave from action to focus on starting a family, and Zamboanga suffered back-to-back losses while she was gone, which put her out of the World Title picture.
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Now riding two huge victories, though, Zamboanga wants to resume her quest to challenge for the atomweight crown. “I had a shot at the belt before, but so much has happened since then, and it slipped through my fingers. But I think I still deserve that shot. I’m the third-ranked atomweight, so whoever wins this fight, I think I deserve a shot at that belt,” she said.
