NEWS ALERT The fight between Denice
Zamboanga and Seo Hee Ham
is under official review by the ONE Competition Committee. @DZDenice
@yodchatri
#ONEEmpower
#WeAreONE
#ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/vZ2FkPf3wZ— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
September 5, 2021
Seo Hee
Ham may not get to savor her debut win in One Championship for too long.
In a tweet Sunday, the promotion echoed a similar tweet from One
Championship founder and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, stating, “The fight
between Denice
Zamboanga and Seo Hee Ham
is under official review by the ONE Competition Committee.” The
fight in question, which took place last Friday at One
Championship “Empower”, was a competitive fight between
undefeated rising contender Zamboanga and star free agent
acquisition Ham. In the immediate aftermath, the result was
announced as a split decision victory for Ham, but that outcome now
appears to be potentially changing.
One Championship has unilaterally overturned judges’ decisions and
referees’ rulings numerous times in the past. Notable MMA examples
include the March 2018 bout between Robin
Catalan and Kritsada
Kongsrichai, in which a submission victory by Kongsrichai was
subsequently changed to a disqualification win for Catalan, stating
that the slam that precipitated the finish was a suplex and
therefore illegal under One rules; and the Sagetdao
Petpayathai–Jia Wen Ma
bout in June 2018, after which the competition committee ruled that
Ma had won the bout rather than Sagetdao, who had been declared the
winner by the cageside judges. The highest-profile instance of the
promotion reversing fight results, however, took place in the
Giorgio Petrosyan-Phetmorakot Petchyindee Academy kickboxing match
at One “Enter the Dragon” in May 2019, where an upset win by
Phetmorakot over Petrosyan, one of the most famous and accomplished
kickboxers on the planet, was changed to a no contest, citing
“illegal clinching” on the part of Phetmorakot.
The makeup of the committee that will be reviewing the fight is not
completely clear, but in previous instances it has been described
by the promotion as consisting of Matt Hume, a
senior vice-president at One as well as the coach of high-profile
fighters including One standouts Demetrious
Johnson and Bibiano
Fernandes, and the cageside officials. In the case of
Ham-Zamboanga, the committee’s decision will be doubly impactful,
affecting not only the outcome of the fight — including Zamboanga’s
previously perfect professional record — but the newly launched One
Atomweight Grand Prix, of which their bout was one
quarterfinal.