ONE Championship: Stamp Fairtex thinks Angela Lee is ‘much tougher’ than interim title opponent Ham Seo-hee
- Stamp earned an interim atomweight title fight with South Korean veteran by stopping Alyse Anderson with a body shot at ONE Fight Night 10
- It will be the Thai star’s second MMA title shot after coming up short against the undisputed champion Lee in 2022
Stamp Fairtex is not worried about Ham Seo-hee.
The Thai, ONE Championship’s No 1-ranked atomweight contender, was back in action at Friday’s ONE Fight Night 10 event in Denver, where she stopped Alyse Anderson with a second-round body shot. The victory set her up for a fight with South Korea’s Ham – the division’s No 2 contender – with an interim belt on the line.
She is ready for that opportunity, but believes it will be an easier challenge than her 2022 title fight with undisputed atomweight champion Angela Lee, which she lost by second-round submission.
“I’m ready any time,” she said at the ONE Fight Night 10 post-fight press conference. “Angela Lee is much tougher. She’s the toughest opponent I’ve ever faced.”
Lee is currently out of action indefinitely following the death of her 18-year-old sister Victoria, also a ONE fighter, hence the promotion’s creation of an interim atomweight belt.
Stamp has meanwhile rebounded from her loss to Lee with a decision victory over Malaysia’s Jihin Radzuan, and her win over Anderson at ONE Fight Night 10. She also picked up a decision win over Supergirl Jaroonsak under kickboxing rules in January, though that has little bearing on her status as a contender in MMA.
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The Denver event was ONE’s first in the United States, and it is hard to imagine it going better for the Singapore-based promotion, as many of the fighters on the bill delivered star-making performance.
Stamp, 25, was chief among them.
Her walk to the Circle – and her trademark “Stamp Dance” – generated a huge reaction from the fans at the 1stBank Centre, and her second-round knockout, sealed with a kick to the body, drove the crowd into a frenzy.
That the Thai had just brutally finished an American did not seem to matter to them whatsoever.
“I was very surprised and very inspired when the crowd was going crazy when I came out,” she said. “It gave me so much energy to perform.”
Stamp’s victory over Anderson was arguably the flashiest of her career to date – which also includes title wins in ONE’s atomweight kickboxing and Muay Thai divisions.
The Thai had to fight her way out of a submission in round one, but claims she was in no danger.
“The triangle wasn’t really on,” she said. “I just needed time to pull my head out. I wasn’t in any danger because my arm wasn’t in there.”
The 36-year-old Ham, who will look to make Stamp regret her confidence, last fought in March, when she defeated Itsuki Hirata by decision. That win brought her to 3-0 in ONE, after a pair of decision wins over top-five contender Denice Zamboanga in her first two fights.
She is considered one of the top fighters in women’s MMA.
