SUMMARY
- Stamp Fairtex vs. Denice Zamboanga will go down at ONE 167.
- Ahead of the atomweight MMA title bout on June 7, the two fighters had the friendliest face-off.
Stamp Fairtex and Denice Zamboanga engaged in the friendliest face-off you’ve ever seen at ONE Fight Night 22: Sundell vs. Diachkova on Prime Video this past weekend.
The pair will lock horns for Stamp’s ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Title in the ONE 167 main event at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 7. But you wouldn’t know it by their cheerful demeanor on May 3.
The friends and soon-to-be foes came together for an interview at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, and they each mused on how they will put their friendship aside for the high-stakes fight.
“If you talk about our friendship, yes, it’s hard to put that aside. But that belt is more important, so it’s very easy for me,” Stamp said.
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“I know Stamp, I treat her as my sister,” Zamboanga added. “We trained before and I treat her as my family, but I will do my best to make history and become the first Filipina ONE World Champion.”
Stamp and Zamboanga remain firm friends after training together at the famed Fairtex Training Center in Pattaya, Thailand. Zamboanga has since moved to T-Rex MMA in her native Philippines.
Stamp Fairtex and Denice Zamboanga share their respective game plans for ONE 167
During their interview at ONE Fight Night 22, Stamp Fairtex and Denice Zamboanga were surprisingly candid about their game plans ahead of their World Title clash at ONE 167. Zamboanga is noted for her takedowns and wrestling, and “The Menace” indicated that she will follow the same path on June 7.
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“I know Stamp very well ever since we trained together. But I know that she has improved a lot in her game. She’s a champion for a reason,” Zamboanga said.
“I know Stamp, she trained very hard. She trained very hard and prepared a lot of her striking and he ground game, but I can say that I can use my ground game as my advantage.”
Stamp, on the other hand, is a veteran of Muay Thai. The Thai megastar indicated that she would use her 81 professional fights worth of experience in the striking realm to her advantage.
“I’m probably going to use my Muay Thai because I’m fighting her in Thailand. So, Muay Thai is the way to go,” she said.
The top women’s atomweight MMA stars then engaged in a friendly faceoff for the crowd before heading backstage to record a TikTok video together in a rare show of camaraderie between opponents.