ONE
Championship returned to Amazon Prime with three title fights
in three different combat disciplines, all headlined by women. In
the main event, promotional superstar
Stamp
Fairtex faced
Seo Hee Ham
for the vacant 115-pound title, as champion
Angela Lee
announced her retirement Friday night. Only 25, Fairtex is already
a former ONE world champion in kickboxing, muay thai and mixed
martial arts. She had lost the crown to Lee via fourth-round
submission in March of 2022, though Stamp had come back strong with
back-to-back wins over
Jihin
Radzuan and
Alyse
Anderson in MMA, the latter virtue of a brutal liver kick.
Ham had won nine in a row, with some declaring she was one of the
best WMMA fighters in the world. Age was also a concern, as Ham is
36, over a decade older than her opponent.
Ham had her occasional moments, with the best being a flash
knockdown in Round 2. However, Stamp was the clearly better
striker, pelting the South Korean with kicks and punches at range,
and nailing her with knees and elbows in the clinch. Early in Round
3, Stamp hurt Ham badly with a well-timed right cross to the body,
and after a knee upstairs and several more body punches, she had
won the championship for a second time via a thrilling
knockout.
In the co-main event, 18-year-old striking sensation
Smilla
Sundell defended her 125 pound muay thai strap against tough
Brazilian 115 pound champion
Allycia
Hellen Rodrigues, moving up in weight. First becoming champion
at 17, Sundell is still improving, on top of being a huge 5' 8”
with over 69” of reach at her weight class. Rodrigues, meanwhile,
had won her title by defeating main eventer Stamp back in 2020 and
had successfully defended it against
Janet Todd
in March of this year. Rodrigues insisted on repeatedly clinching
with her bigger, longer opponent, but Sundell consistently got the
better of it, out-kneeing and elbowing the Brazilian. There was
little respite for Rodrigues at range though, as Sundell had much
better boxing, beating up with her punches. Finally, an onslaught
of knees and punches caused the referee to halt the punishment at
the end of the third round, as Sundell retained.
Elsewhere, former ONE champion and elite
Ultimate Fighting Championship contender
John
Lineker faced the terrific
Stephen
Loman, who hadn't lost since 2016. This was a battle of
highly-skilled contenders, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 within the
division, and it lived up to the billing. Loman started strong,
taking the first round on the strength of a well-timed takedown.
But being as great and experienced as he is, Lineker was undaunted,
stuffing Loman's takedowns in the next two rounds while punishing
him with punches, especially gut-busting blows to the body. With
Lineker clearly better over the last two rounds, he took a
well-deserved unanimous decision.
With the event over, here are several exciting bouts that ONE can
book:
With Lee retired, the next most intriguing fight for Stamp is a
rubber match against nemesis and top-ranked contender
Alyona
Rassohyna. Rassohyna submitted Stamp via a guillotine choke
with just seven seconds left in the fight when they first met in
February 2021. In a rematch in September of that year, Fairtex won
via a controversial split decision. Clearly, the two have
unfinished business, so a third meeting would make perfect sense
for Stamp's first title defense of her second reign.
Sundell won her title from
Jackie
Buntan in April 2022 and was originally scheduled to rematch
her for this card until she pulled out due to injury. Their first
fight was very close and Buntan, only 26, has been on a tear since
losing her crown, dominating Amber Kitchen and then knocking out
Diandra
Martin in the first round. Buntan is bigger and more physical
than Rodrigues and possesses boxing skills that match or even
exceed Sundell's. The rematch should be a terrific striking
contest, with Buntan having a good chance of evening the score.
The trilogy bout is the only one that makes sense. For starters,
Lineker is the clear No. 1 contender and just defeated the No. 2
ranked Loman. That also makes two wins in a row since he lost his
bantamweight crown to Fabricio de Andrade in February of this year,
a pitched battle where Lineker certainly had his moments before the
doctor stopped it after Round 4. And with their first fight ending
in an anti-climactic no contest, the ledger is only 1-0 in favor of
the champion de Andrade.