Who DO YOU have claiming the ONE Interim
Women’s Atomweight MMA World Championship on September 29 at ONE
Fight Night 14?#ONEFightNight14
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pic.twitter.com/eZQsZBT5V5— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
September 27, 2023
Stamp
Fairtex will look to make history as a three-sport world
champion when she faces Seo Hee Ham
for the interim One
Championship women’s atomweight title in the
ONE on Prime Video 14 main event on Friday at Singapore Indoor
Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Having already captured gold in muay
thai and kickboxing, Fairtex now sets her sights on mixed martial
arts.
Fairtex can draw upon past history, as she fell short in her first
bid for an MMA championship. The 25-year-old lost to reigning
atomweight titleholder Angela Lee
in March 2022 but has since improved her all-around game. With
back-to-back wins over Jihin
Radzuan and Alyse
Anderson, she believes she has made the necessary adjustments
to become a champion in mixed martial arts.
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“My fight with Angela Lee
made me focus more on my MMA,” Fairtex said at a pre-fight press
conference on Tuesday. “I trained more on BJJ, and back then, I was
too nervous and that made me learn from then on to control myself
emotionally and be stable for the fight.”
Stability figures to be key against an experienced, well-rounded
martial artist like Ham. The South Korean star has won her past
nine bouts and believes Fairtex lacks the seasoning in her skills
necessary to keep her from claiming the interim title.
“I believe all jobs require strong experience, especially MMA,” Ham
said. “I have abundant experience in MMA and a lot more than Stamp.
That’s why I think I have a very strong advantage in this
fight.”
Ham, 36, is 11 years older and nearly triples Fairtex’s time in the
cage, but her style could be a fit for the muay thai specialist.
Unlike Lee, Ham’s claim to fame never involved her submission game.
In fact, she has not finished a fight on the ground since 2007.
While Fairtex does not want to overlook the former
Rizin Fighting Federation,
Road Fighting Championship and Jewels champion’s grappling, she
remains confident she can keep the fight standing.
“I’ve studied Han, and I’ve noticed that she has really strong
punches,” Fairtex said. “I’ve been training my defense for that
also.”
The Fairtex-Ham winner will not have to look far for the next
challenger. Fairtex prefers a rematch with Lee, but current ONE
strawweight champion Jingnan
Xiong still has her eyes on a two-division reign. After failing
to capture the atomweight crown against Lee in 2019, Xiong has
rattled off four consecutive victories. She returns to action in a
ONE on Prime Video 14 special rules bout opposite muay thai stylist
Nat
Jaroonsak and will view the main event with a vested
interest.
“I think it’s a 50-50 fight,” Xiong said. “Both of them are equally
strong, and whoever gets the chance to knock out the other first
could win.”