By:  | October 2, 2023 1:06 pm

We all saw Stamp Fairtex break Seo Hee Ham’s spirit with punches and knees to the body. The Korean was wincing in pain and clearly in no state to continue.

But what we didn’t see was that Stamp had already broken her arm. The right body kicks must have done the damage with the Thai landing this shot consistently throughout the fight.

Afterwards the UFC veteran took to Instagram to admit that she had suffered even more damage than fans might have realized in the atomweight title fight,

“Even though my arm is broken my heart was not. I will come back stronger.”

Gracious in defeat

Ham was gracious in defeat. It is not a familiar experience for the 36 year old who had won her previous nine fights and was undefeated since leaving the UFC in 2016.

No-one in the UFC ever managed to stop Ham either. All three of her losses inside the octagon came by way of decision and the last fighter to finish her inside the distance was Ayaka Hamasaki in 2011.

Ham would go on to beat Hamasaki at Rizin 20 in 2019, winning the promotion’s super atomweight champion. Fans were divided as to whether she was the top fighter in the division or not with some feeling the Korean was ahead of Angela Lee.

Drawing comparisons

The only opponent Lee and Ham had in common was Mei Yamaguchi and they both beat her by decision, the Hawaiian doing it twice. So it was difficult to draw comparison’s between them because one was on the Rizin roster and the other a ONE Championship fighter.

With Ham signing for ONE Championship it seemed only a matter of time until that debate got settled inside the circle. But Lee’s retirement means that the two atomweights will never meet.

They do have another opponent in common now though. Lee submitted Stamp in the second round last year but Ham did not fare nearly so well against the up and coming Thai.

She did have herm moments and dropped Stamp with a right hand in the second round. But the Korean wasn’t making excuses and admitted afterward  that it,

Just wasn’t my day.