All three judges scored the contest in favor of Denice Zamboanga, who extended her winning streak to three straight wins. This victory was all the more impressive considering the circumstances. Initially, Zamboanga was set to face Stamp Fairtex. However, Fairtex was forced to pull out of the fight due to an injury, leading to Zamboanga accepting the short-notice fight against Grandjean.
Zamboanga didn’t look back and revealed in an interview with Sportsmanor that her decision to accept the short-notice fight was purely because of her desire to remain active. It won’t be wrong to say that Zamboanga even put her title shot opportunity on the line since she had the option to wait for Fairtex. However, she didn’t want to waste all the training that she had already put into in preparation for Fairtex.
Zamnoanga was quite surprised when she learned that Grandjean accepted to take the fight considering she had fought little over a month ago on May 3 back at Sundell vs Diachkova. She lost that fight via unanimous decision and is now on a two-fight losing streak.
Be that as it may, much credit to Grandjean for the quick turnaround and putting on a performance that she did at ONE 167.
Denice Zamboanga set for bigger goals after ONE 167
As it happened, both fighters engaged in a slugfest to in what was a purely striking contest between both stalwarts. Grandjean continued to walk forward at every opportunity she got and even paid the price for it on numerous occasions.
There was a moment in the first round where Zamboanga came very close to finish the fight after she secured a rear naked choke on Grandjean, only to be separated by the bell.
Zamboanga did not have it easy either who had to fight through fire to get past her friend turned opponent Noelle Grandjean. She was also able to take her opponent down numerous times throughout the fight, but couldn’t do much to stop an aggressive Grandhjean.
There are several options that wait for Zamboanga after her victory at ONE 167. While waiting for Stamp Fairtex could be the first priority on her list, there’s a possibility that the ONE Championship could put on an interim title fight.