Second-ranked ONE Championship women’s atomweight MMA contender ‘The Menace’ Denice Zamboanga was ultimately bummed for having to pull out of her scheduled interim world title shot against no.4-ranked Alyona Rassohyna later this year.
The two were scheduled to lock horns at ONE Fight Night 25 in October, but Zamboanga injured herself in training and was forced to withdraw from the contest.
Speaking to the YouTube channel, The MMA Superfan, in a recent interview, Zamboanga shared her thoughts on her withdrawal from the interim title fight and said she was still thankful for ONE Championship despite the latest setback.
‘The Menace’ said:
“This is the opportunity that I’ve been waiting for so long, I’m thankful that ONE Championship gave me this opportunity that they didn’t have to hold the division for the champion because she was injured. They found a way to ensure that the division remains active while Stamp [Fairtex] is injured.”
Zamboanga added:
“Unfortunately, now I’m the one who got injured. My hamstring got injured during training. Actually before my last fight, this was already injured but I forced myself to fight.”
Needless to say, Zamboanga cannot wait to heal up and get right back into training to rebook this world title opportunity, one that has eluded her for so long.
Stamp Fairtex sends a message to console former teammate Denice Zamboanga in lieu of injury
Reigning ONE women’s atomweight MMA world champion Stamp Fairtex of Thailand sent a message to her former teammate ‘The Menace’ Denice Zamboanga after learning that the Filipino had fallen to injury.
She told ONE Championship:
“I’m sorry to hear about Denice’s injury. I was really excited about Denice’s fight with Alyona. It was a highly anticipated match. I heard that she will need to rest for 1-2 months before she can return to training. I hope she recovers quickly and can get back to training soon. Wishing you a speedy recovery, my friend!”
Stamp and Zamboanga trained together a few years ago when the latter was still with Fairtex. The two had forged a close bond during their time in the gym.
