FILIPINO fighter Denice “Lycan Queen” Zamboanga sees a tough challenge in the about-to-start ONE atomweight world grand prix and not getting ahead of herself, choosing to take it a step at a time.
Ms. Zamboanga, 24, ONE Championship’s number one-ranked atomweight contender, will take on Korea’s Seo Hee Ham (#5) in the quarterfinals of the highly anticipated fight series on Sept. 3 and is solely focusing on it for now.
“Right now, in this tournament, there’s a lot of work to be done. I have a very dangerous opponent in Seo Hee Ham, and I am not looking past her,” said the Philippine bet in a recent media forum.
“This is going to be a good fight. I just want to prove that I am the number one contender to the title again. I am completely focused on this fight,” she added.
Ms. Zamboanga has been undefeated in eight professional fights to date, including three in ONE. She last fought in August last year, winning by submission (keylock) in the opening round over Watsapinya Kaewkhong of Thailand.
While she is carrying momentum heading into the grand prix, she recognizes that at the onset of the tournament she is up against a tough competition in 34-year-old Ms. Seo (23-8), who is making her ONE debut, but is a veteran and has fought in different fight promotions, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
She said they have been training hard with her team at Marrok Force in Thailand, which includes her brother Drex and coach Fritz Biagtan.
“We have studied her (Seo) already and we know what we have to do during the fight,” Ms. Zamboanga said.
If she goes past the quarterfinals, Ms. Zamboanga will face in the semifinals either Ukraine’s Alyona Rassohyna or Stamp of Thailand.
Other grand prix quarterfinal matches have Itsuki Hirata of Japan against American Alyse Anderson, and Meng Bo of China versus Ritu Phogat of India.
The ONE atomweight world grand prix is part of the historic “Empower” event, which is featuring an all-female fight card, headlined by the strawweight world championship fight between reigning champion Xiong Jing Nan of China and Brazilian challenger Michelle Nicolini.
Meanwhile, the atomweight world grand prix alternate bout between Jenelyn Olsim of the Philippines and Grace Cleveland of the United States is not pushing through as the latter deals with medical issues.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Thai-American Ms. Cleveland said she is very disappointed to announce that she would not be competing in the grand prix as she has “been experiencing really bad dizziness for the past month.”
She has been consulting different medical experts about her condition and for now, she has deemed it fit to not to compete and risk long-term repercussions. Ms. Cleveland said she still hopes to return to the sport if her health allows her to.
Ms. Olsim of Team Lakay earned a spot in the alternate bout after winning by unanimous decision in a hard-fought fight against Vietnamese-American Bi Nguyen just last Friday. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo