MANILA, Philippines -- Denice Zamboanga can now finally call herself a champion.
The Filipina mixed martial artist made history on Saturday morning, beating Alyona Rassohyna via technical knockout to become the interim atomweight MMA world champion in the ONE Fight Night 27 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Thailand.
Zamboanga became the first-ever Filipina MMA world champion after securing the win at the 4:47 mark of the second round.
The two fighters sized each other up in the second round, but things quickly turned south for Rassohyna as she shot for a takedown against Zamboanga within the first minute.
The Filipina was able to dominate after the takedown, as she started to connect on the ground and pound.
Rassohyna eventually found herself back on top and tried to lock in a submission hold on Zamboanga’s leg.
However, the 27-year-old pride of the Philippines got the upper hand once again, and her relentless elbows and hammer fists forced referee Herb Dean to put an end to the fight, as the Filipina became emotional.
“I’m speechless. First of all, I won’t be here without the Lord, Jesus Christ. You know, I’ve been aiming for this gold for years. I’m not here for short notice, I made this from hard work, tears and everything. I’m very speechless,” she said in the post-match interview.
“The delays and injuries, I’ve been through a lot of injuries. Last two weeks, I couldn’t move my arm, my left arm, but I still fought because I know God will give me this belt,” she added.
For her performance, Zamboanga was also given $50,000.
The next step for Zamboanga is possibly a unification bout with her good friend, ONE atomweight MMA titlist Stamp Fairtex.
The two were originally set to fight for the title last year, but Stamp's injuries pushed the bout back.
“You know, I think I really deserve to fight for Stamp’s championship because I proved that I can finish my opponent. So I think I deserve to fight her,” she said.
This marked an excellent 24 hours for Filipina fighters in ONE FC. In the ONE Friday Fights 93 event on Friday, Islay Erika Bomogao defeated Ran Longshu via unanimous decision in their catchweight (101 lbs) Muay Thai bout.