Stamp congratulates Zamboanga, looks forward to ONE title defense

MANILA, Philippines -- “I will fight you soon.”

After being forced to pull out of her ONE atomweight MMA title defense weeks before the bout, Stamp Fairtex is setting her sights on defending her championship against Filipina mixed martial artist Denice Zamboanga next.

Stamp was forced to withdraw from the ONE 167 card against Zamboanga after suffering a torn meniscus during training.

Zamboanga would face Noelle “Lil’ Monkey” Grandjean instead, whom she dominated.

Now, Stamp said that she is focused on recovering as she aims to face the 27-year-old Filipina soon.

“I'll try to recover my body until it returns to 100% and be able to defend my belt in my next fight with you,” the Thai champion said in a statement.

The ONE 167 bout was their second match that had to be pushed back.

The first time they were set to clash was on ONE 166: Qatar in March, but the contest was eventually moved to June, before Stamp had to sit it out due to the knee injury.

Meanwhile, Stamp lauded Zamboanga for winning against Grandjean, her third straight win.

“Congratulations to you, my dearest friend. I thought this fight would end in a knockout because Denice has been training with this for quite a long time,” she said.

She also tipped her hat to Grandjean, who had to step in with less than a month before the event.

“I admire Noelle very much and she did well enough despite only having two weeks to prepare and just having fought a few weeks back.”