Stamp
Fairtex has been forced to withdraw from the
ONE Championship 167 headliner after suffering a torn meniscus
in training.
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According to the Singapore-based promotion, Fairtex underwent
surgery for the injury and will not be defending her atomweight
(115-pound) belt against Denice
Zamboanga as originally planned. Zamboanga is expected to
remain on the card against an as yet to be announced opponent.
Fairtex was also slated to meet ONE strawweight (125-pound) queen
Jingnan
Xiong on Sept. 6 in Denver, but that bout is also “in
question,” according to the promotion.
Fairtex revealed how the injury occurred in a release issued by
ONE
Championship.
“My sparring partner was behind me, and she was going to take me
down. She grabbed my body and lifted me up, but since she is
smaller than me, when she lifted me up, she couldn’t lift me that
high, and my leg was still touching the ground,” Fairtex said.
“Then, she twisted. When she twisted, my leg was still touching the
ground, so my knee got twisted. When it twisted, it made a loud
noise. So, I stopped immediately and went for an MRI after that.
[And the doctor said] my meniscus was torn.”
ONE 167 takes place on June 7 at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
A featherweight (155-pound) muay thai championship clash between
Tawanchai
P.K. Saenchai and Nattawut
Somkhun has been elevated to the main event as a result of
Fairtex’s injury.
Fairtex, who was a ONE title holder in both kickboxing and muay
thai, clamed the vacant 115-pound MMA belt with a third-round TKO
victory against Seo Hee Ham
at ONE on Prime Video 14 this past September. The 26-year-old
Thailand native has compiled an 11-2 mark while competing
exclusively under the ONE banner.