The mixed rules fight between Anissa Meksen and Stamp Fairtex will be a clash of more than just styles. The French fighter feels her opponent has been carefully built up by ONE Championship whereas she has had to make her name the hard way.
Meksen had a big reputation when she signed with ONE Championship. She had won multiple kickboxing and Muay Thai champions and held the Glory super bantamweight title on two occasions.
By contrast Stamp was completely unknown and had never faced any notable opponents. Meksen thinks that the Thai fighter has been handed an easy path to stardom ahead of their clash at ONE on Prime Video 6,
“Before (Stamp) entered ONE Championship I’m sorry to say it but she was nothing. She had no title, no fame and when she entered ONE, ONE built her, built her career.”
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Bigger star
She contrasts that with her own career which has seen Meksen travel all over the world to compete in boxing, kickboxing and Muay Thai,
“It’s not the same for me, I took everybody out. I did not choose opponents, nothing. So we will see if she’s the bigger star.”
But when it comes to MMA the Thai fighter clearly has more experience. This will be a mixed rules fight and the second round will be fought under Muay Thai rules.
That should suit Stamp who is a veteran of 11 MMA fights. But Meksen knows she can avoid going to the ground altogether by finishing her opponent in the opening round,
“My goal is to finish her 100%. It doesn’t matter during which round but first-round would be good. So my goal is to finish her in the first round.”
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Ready for everything
She also points out that she is not a compete novice when it comes to MMA. Meksen says she first started training in 2017 but admits that she didn’t keep it up,
“I trained in MMA in 2017 and after that I trained in MMA for three years. Now, I just came back and my skills feel good. It was a little bit difficult to come back, but now I feel better and I feel comfortable.”
She also has some experience of judo and says she is ‘ready for everything’,
“I did judo for six years. Nobody knows that, but I have experience in judo and I work a lot on my wrestling. I’m ready for everything.”
Meksen has won three fights out of three for ONE Championship competing under Muay Thai and kickboxing rules. None of those contests has been particularly close and she has called for a title shot several times.
But while the mixed rules fight with Stamp might not be the match Meksen and her team was after she promises to be ready,
“I trained hard in wrestling and in grappling. I have a good team. It doesn’t matter what happens. I will be ready for sure.”
