Dan Hardy has reviewed the footage of the fight between Denice Zamboanga and Seo Hee Ham. The UFC veteran thinks that the Filipina won but he believes it was a very close fight.
Hardy reviewed the fight on the official ONE Championship YouTube channel. He can understand why two of the judges disagreed but feels Zamboanga should have won,
“It’s a very close fight to score and a tough one to judge. My thoughts were that Zamboanga did enough to win, she should have won a decision.”
Thought process
He tries to understand the thought process of the two judges that scored the fight for the Korean,
“The argument could be made that Seo Hee Ham was closer to winning the fight with her punches, she did more damage. She only did a small amount though.”
He thinks that under the ONE Championship scoring criteria the damage was what tipped the scales in Ham’s favour,
“In ONE Championship its not scored by rounds and it’s not scored by who controls the fight. It’s scored by who gets closest to winning the fight.”
Low output
He points out that despite controlling large portions of the fight Zamboanga never came close to finishing the Korean,
“Denice didn’t do a great deal that was proactive to finish the fight but she did (have) a lot of control. Her output wasn’t great either offensively.”
He thinks that Zamboanga relied on takedowns too much and looked reluctant to engage in striking exchanges,
“The one reason I think the judges might have scored for Seo Hee Ham is that she was the one who looks like she wanted to fight.”
But he does not feel that Ham did enough to try and capitalize on what clearly looked like an advantage on the feet,
“When Ham had the opportunity to strike and to make something happen she didn’t, she hung back too much.”
Difficult job
Hardy does not believe this was an outright robbery. But he is the latest in a long line of people to proclaim Zamboanga the rightful winner, if supports of Ham really feel that she won they have remained silent on the issue.
However ‘The Outlaw’ also pointed out that judging is a difficult job,
“Scoring these fights is always a challenge. It’s not a job I would like.”
