KEY POINTS

  • ONE Championship will be holding its first all-women card on Friday, September 3
  • Denice Zamboanga will welcome Seo Hee Ham to the promotion in the co-main event 
  • The World Grand Prix winner gets to face Angela Lee for her world title

Mixed martial arts (MMA) started off as an all-male attraction that appealed mainly as an alternative to boxing in the late 90s to early 2000s.

Women’s MMA had an occasional appearance in Japan during the 90s, but in the Western hemisphere, it gained prominence due to promotions such as Strikeforce, Bellator, EliteXC and especially with the UFC in the later years.

ONE Championship became the No. 1 promotion in Asia, and women were featured heavily throughout the organization’s history.

Featuring names like Stamp Fairtex, Angela Lee and Xiong Jing Nan, ONE Championship recognizes the amazing potential that women have in MMA and is giving them their first all-women event.

The company will be holding ONE: Empower this Friday, September 3, and it features some of the best female fighters in the sport today.

Xiong and Michelle Nicolini are scheduled to headline the card, but the co-main event is definitely one to watch.

The Philippines’ Denice Zamboanga will face off against South Korea’s Seo Hee Ham in the quarterfinal round of the ONE Women's Atomweight World Grand Prix.

Speaking to the media during a virtual press conference, both women were asked about what this fight means to them.

“She (Seo Hee Ham) is the very strongest; the strongest opponent I’ll be facing [in] my career, so I think this would be a hard fight for the both of us,” said Zamboanga.

The South Korean fighter will be making her promotional debut against Zamboanga, and she cannot wait to “go crazy in there” against Zamboanga.

Zamboanga remains undefeated through eight professional fights, with her most recent victory coming off a submission finish over Watsapinya Kaewkhong in August 2020 at ONE: A New Breed.

The International Business Times was able to ask Zamboanga whether the postponement of her bout with Ham earlier this year gave her more time to map out her game plan.

“I think for me, it really [helped] me through training camp,” said the undefeated Zamboanga.

“[The rescheduling allowed me] to really enhance my skills and [shore up] my weaknesses that [were apparent during] my training. So, I think the postponement really helped me.”

The winner of the tournament gets to face Lee for her world title.

ONE: Empower will be airing live on the promotion’s YouTube channel and the ONE Super App beginning at 7:30 PM (Singapore Standard Time).

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