Winner Of Stamp Fairtex Vs Jihin Radzuan May Get Pole Position In Atomweight Rankings

Angela Lee is set to return to action on the morning of Saturday, October 1st (Friday, September 30 in the United States) in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 2 to challenge Chinese arch-nemesis Xiong Jing Nan for her women's strawweight championship.

Even though ONE Championship's undisputed atomweight queen aims to win her second world title in a much higher weight class, it is business as usual for the rest of the division that the Singaporean-American singlehandedly dominated for the last six years.

While Lee handles her affairs with Xiong in their trilogy bout, a three-round mixed martial arts match pitting two ranked atomweight contenders against each other is also booked to take place on the same card.

Stamp Fairtex, who occupies the No. 1 spot in the promotion's atomweight rankings, is slated to go up against No. 5-rated Jihin Radzuan.

To say that the 24-year-old Thai heroine will be looking for redemption is an understatement.

Stamp is coming off a heartbreaking loss at the hands of Lee, succumbing to a second-round rear-naked choke this past March.

In a recent interview, Stamp expressed her eagerness to restart her bid to add the ONE women's atomweight title to her belt collection.

"Victory means a lot to me in this fight. If she beats me, she may take away the No. 1 position from me. Of course, I won't let her do that. I've been training so hard to maintain my No. 1 position so that I could challenge Angela Lee again," said the hard-hitter from Pattaya, Thailand who once held gold-plated straps in Muay Thai and kickboxing as well as the silverware in the ONE Women's Atomweight World Grand Prix.

"This is not a feeling of pressure. For me, it's more like a driving force."

On the other hand, Radzuan is currently riding high on a huge wave of momentum.

Radzuan kickstarted her streak of victories with a unanimous decision win over Bi Nguyen in December 2020 and then followed it up with an upset of two-time world title challenger Mei Yamaguchi in the same fashion last January.

Two months after prevailing over Yamaguchi, Radzuan upped the ante by clinching the biggest win of her professional career yet as she eked out a split decision versus Japanese vixen Itsuki Hirata.

As Radzuan enters another high-profile contest, she expects to garner a big reward if she plays her cards right.

"I wouldn't exclusively say that Stamp is going to be the most important fight. I think every fight is important, but in terms of building my brand, I think this is the best fight," Radzuan stated in a separate interview.

"My opponent is a big name, and I love fighting against big names. But at the end of the day, I have to believe in myself, believe in my teammates and my coach, and not worry too much about who or how big my opponent is."

Radzuan conceded that she could be in for a daunting assignment, knowing Stamp's reputation as a lethal striker with an expanding acumen in the grappling department.

However, Malaysia's "Shadow Cat" is confident that she can go head-to-head with Stamp in every aspect.

"If it ends up in a striking fight, the battle will be won by who can stay patient and land the bigger and most powerful shots. On the ground, if I'm lacking that killer instinct, I think she can [compete] with me there," Radzuan stressed.

"But if I do everything as planned, she doesn't stand a chance at all."

Meanwhile, Stamp intends to utilize her bread-and-butter opposite a woman who is well-versed on the mat.

"Jihin's strengths are her wrestling and ground game. She is quite good at striking, but I think this is her weakness as well because if we trade with each other, I believe I have more experience in striking than her," Stamp mentioned.

"Let's test it in the Circle. Let's see who is faster and more accurate."

Lee may be facing Xiong in the headliner of ONE on Prime Video 2 for the strawweight crown, but whatever the result may be, Stamp and Radzuan are expected to go at it on the undercard as an opportunity to firmly secure a world title shot could be at stake.