Denice Zamboanga wants to remain active and fight at ONE 167, even after the pull out of world champion Stamp Fairtex due to injury.
With ONE Atomweight MMA World Champion Stamp Fairtex now officially out of her title defense against #2-ranked Denice “The Menace” Zamboanga, the search is on for a suitable replacement to face the surging Filipina contender at ONE 167.
Zamboanga insists on competing when ONE returns to the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 8, and while she won’t be contesting for a world title, she wants to remain active even if that means risking her status as the division’s next challenger.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at three possible replacements for Stamp against Zamboanga at ONE 167.
1. Chihiro Sawada
Unbeaten Japanese wrestler Chihiro Sawada is slowly scaling the atomweight division since making her ONE Friday Fights debut last year, before her official main-roster debut in March.
The 26-year-old is 3-0 in ONE Championship and holds an impressive 8-0 record overall, adding to the influx of strong Japanese fighters in ONE across all sports, from MMA to kickboxing to Muay Thai.
While she’s coming off a win over Noelle Grandjean this month, a quick turnaround win against a divisional staple in Zamboanga could get her the top contender status she’s looking for.
2. Noelle Grandjean
The aforementioned Grandjean could also be a suitable dance partner for Zamboanga.
While she lost to Sawada via decision at ONE Fight Night 22, the Thai-French judoka could use a quick bounce-back win, especially as she eyes to break into the atomweight top-five after splitting her previous four matches in ONE.
Logistically, it makes sense for Grandjean to take the fight. Training out of Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand, she’s only a short plane ride away from Thailand’s capital. With enough motivation, don’t be surprised to see Grandjean take the chance to duke it out with “The Menace” on short notice.
3. Ham Seo Hee
Since Zamboanga is no longer fighting her good pal at ONE 167, will she instead get to face her old tormentor?
It was against Ham when Zamboanga lost her top contender status after dropping a controversial decision loss to the South Korean in the first round of the ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Grand Prix a few years back.
Ham doubled down on her mastery of Zamboanga, beating the Filipina convincingly in their rematch at ONE X.
It would be a gamble for Zamboanga to take on such a tough fight, but the Filipina wants nothing more than to win one back. So don’t be surprised to see these two female stars duke it out one more time.