Stamp Fairtex is going to have the most memorable night of her MMA career.
The newly crowned ONE Women’s Atomweight Champion is set to defend her title against Denice Zamboanga, the 2nd ranked fighter in the division, at ONE 166 on 1st March at the at Lusail Sports Arena.
The bout will not only mark her first defense as the 115-pound champ but will also have Stamp take on her former training partner in Zamboanga.
The title fight was made official by the promotion on their social media handles on Tuesday.
BREAKING 🚨 Stamp Fairtex makes her first ONE Atomweight MMA World Title defense against #2-ranked contender and former training partner Denice Zamboanga at ONE 166: Qatar!@VisitQatar @MediacityQa #ONE166 | March 1 at 3:30PM AST
🎟️ Tickets:https://t.co/Wcx1ykvL1J… pic.twitter.com/PUXzgY8Xex— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 16, 2024
A fan favourite and one of the most popular names among the ONE franchise, Stamp clinched the vacant Atomweight title back in September at ONE Fight Night 14, where she defeated Ham Seo-hee.
Coming from an unsuccessful attempt at clinching the 115-pound belt against Angela Lee back in March 2022 at ONE X, Stamp went all out against Ham and knocked out her opponent in the third round to be crowned the Atomwright champion.
Stamp Fairtex to face someone who knows her game like no other
On her maiden title defense, “Nong Stamp” will be taking on, not any stranger or a grudge rival, but someone with whom she has had many sparring experiences- a friend and former training partner Denice “The Menace” Zamboanga.
Bouncing back from her consecutive setbacks against Ham, the Filipino is currently on a 2-0 win streak, with her latest triumph dating back to April 2023 when Zamboanga defeated Julie Mezabarba via unanimous decision at ONE Fight Night 9.
During her time at the Fairtex Training Center back in 2019 and 2020, Zamboanga and Stamp shared the training sessions on multiple occasions, as well as rising through the ranks of the promotion.
However, the bonding between Stamp and Zamboanga was not just limited to the sparring sessions, as the two had bonded over time and was often seen together outside of training, and even have several photos together on social media.
View this post on Instagram
Current ONE 166 Lineup
- Reinier de Ridder (c) vs. Anatoly Malykhin, for ONE Middleweight title
- Jarred Brooks (c) vs. Joshua Pacio, for ONE Strawweight title
- Tang Kai (c) vs. Thanh Le, for ONE featherweight title
- Stamp Fairtex (c) vs. Denice Zamboanga, for ONE Atomweight title
- Amir Aliakbari vs. Arjan Bhullar, Heavyweight bout
- Submission Grappling: Osamah Almarwai vs. Cleber Sousa, Flyweight bout
ALSO READ: Government of Thailand Plans To Issue 90-Day Muay Thai Visa For Foreigners