After her win over Lin Heqin at ONE on Prime Video 5 last weekend Denice Zamboanga called out her former training partner Stamp Fairtex. The possibility of the two friends fighting has been open since they both entered the atomweight Grand Prix.
Zamboanga even left Fairtex ahead of a potential fight with Stamp. But the Filipina was eliminated from the tournament after being controversially outpointed by Seo Hee Ham in the opening round.
Ham would go on to beat her more decisively in a rematch. But Zamboanga got back to winning ways last weekend and after the fight she immediately called out Stamp Fairtex.
It didn’t take Stamp too long to respond and she doesn’t seem to be taking the call out too seriously:
View this post on Instagram
Top ranked
As the #1 ranked contender Stamp clearly feels she holds all the cards. Having won the atomweight Grand Prix she was handed a title shot but suffered a submission loss to Angela Lee. But that setback doesn’t appear to have affected her place in the rankings.
Zamboanga is ranked #3 and is obviously looking at the fighters ahead of her. But Stamp feels the Filipina should try to beat Ham before calling her out saying in Thai,
“Tell her to beat Seo Hee Ham first, she lost to her twice. Beat her first and then let’s talk.”
You might think Stamp was throwing shade at Zamboanga but she slightly spoils it with her trademark smile. The Thai fighter doesn’t take life too seriously and there clearly isn’t any bad blood between the two former teammates, yet.
View this post on Instagram
Reluctant opponents
Heading into the Grand Prix the message from both fighters seemed to be that they didn’t particularly want to face each other but would do so if the tournament panned out that way. By calling out Stamp the Filipina has made it clear that she is enthusiastic about facing her (former?) friend.
Seo Hee Ham’s next fight will surely be for the belt. She refused to face an overweight Itsuki Hirata last month and made it clear she was willing to wait for Angela Lee.
That means a fight between the #1 ranked Stamp and the #3 ranked Zamboanga makes all sorts of sense. The former thinks it is funny, the latter wants to do it and the chances are it will happen in 2023.
