This Friday at ONE Fight Night 14 on Amazon Prime Video, ONE Championship star Stamp Fairtex gets her second crack at gold — in MMA.
A former title holder in both Muay Thai and Kickboxing, Stamp (10-2), still just 25, faces UFC vet Seo Hee Ham for interim atomweight gold in Singapore. The interim title comes about as Angela Lee remains absent from the sport in the wake of sister Victora’s tragic passing last December, and the recent admission that Angela Lee herself tried to take her own life.
It was Lee that Stamp Fairtex faced in her first shot at gold, having won the promotion’s atomweight grand prix in 2021. The following year, Stamp faced Lee, only to be submitted in the second round.
In terms of what she can apply from that first title experience to her upcoming fight with Ham, Stamp told Cageside Press during a virtual press conference on Wednesday that some of it comes down to emotional control. But the fight with Lee also showed the two-sport champ she needed to focus more on MMA as a whole.
“From the previous fight I had with Angela Lee, it made me focus more on MMA,” said Stamp. “I train more with BJJ, and also, back then I was too nervous. That made me learn that from now on, I can control myself emotionally — more stable to be ready for the fight.”
Carrying the name of the famed Fairtex gym with her, Stamp made her U.S. debut earlier this year. It certainly went over well with fans, with the Thai star proving to be one of the most popular fighters in Denver, Colorado this past May, at ONE Championship’s first-ever U.S. show.
She’s noticed an uptick in interest ever since. “I got more followers on my Instagram, now I’ve got almost 700,000 followers. It’s really good to know I’ve got followers from the other side of the world,” said Stamp.
The decorated striker is also open to training in the U.S. further. “If I have a chance to go to the U.S. again, I would love to. Of course I enjoy training with the local women athletes, they’re very experienced, and I would learn more from them.”
Later, Stamp touched on what was most difficult her as she made the transition from pure striking to mixed martial arts.
“I think the most challenging thing for me to transition from the first two, Muay Thai and kickboxing, to MMA, it would be I had to train more BJJ and takedowns. Harder than usual. Normally I train really, really hard, now I had to train harder than usual.”
Watch the full ONE Fight Night 14 virtual press conference with Stamp Fairtex and Seo Hee Ham above.
