The full lineup for the ONE Championship atomweight Grand Prix has been released. Former Rizin 108lbs champion Seo Hee Ham is one of eight fighters confirmed for the tournament.
Chatri Sityodtong shared the names of the eight atomweights on Twitter just now:
BREAKING NEWS: The ONE Atomweight World Grand Prix kicks off May 28! The ultimate winner will earn the right to face off against current ONE Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee in November of this year for all of the marbles. Stay tuned for the tournament brackets! pic.twitter.com/PqJIHsj4l0
— Chatri Sityodtong (@yodchatri) February 24, 2021
Although Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara has announced that Seo Hee Ham had signed with ONE Championship this is the first time the promotion has confirmed the news.
Ham (23-8) will be the tournament favourite. The UFC veteran also holds the Road FC 105lbs strap and is riding a six fight winning streak.
The other promotional newcomer is Alyse Anderson (5-1). The American is an Invicta FC veteran who was undefeated as an amateur before turning pro.
The other six atomweights are already on the ONE Championship roster. They are Meng Bo (17-5), Stamp Fairtex (5-1), Alyona Rassohyna (13-4), Itsuki Hirata (4-0), Ritu Phogat (4-0) and Denice Zamboanga (8-0).
The tournament will get underway on May 29th. The quarter final matchups will be released at a later date but the plan is for the winner to face reigning atomweight champion Angela Lee in November.
Lee is currently pregnant but it sounds like she is targeting a November return. She is the promotion’s first and only atomweight champion.
Stamp and Rassohyna have already faced one another once. The Russian scored a last minute submission win over the Thai at ONE: ‘Unbreakable’ Part III but the Thai appeared to believe the fight had already ended when she tapped so a rematch might make sense.
Zamboanga and Bo recently engaged in a war of words and this is another quarter final matchup which could be in the works. All eyes will be on former Rizin and Road FC champion Ham and it will be interesting to see who is handed the unenviable task of welcoming her to ONE Championship.
