 |
| Ham Seo-Hee barely survived Denice Zamboanga in their battle at ONE: Empower. ONE Championship |
MANILA--In a huge shocker, Denice Zamboanga suffered her first MMA loss after South Korean Ham Seo-Hee survived her gallant stand in the co-main event of ONE: Empower at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday night.
In the final bout of the ONE Women's Atomweight Grand Prix quarterfinals, Ham, ranked number five by ONE Championship, accomplished what eight other MMA fighters failed to do, outlasting Zamboanga, the ranked number one, by a split decision win that was met with mostly reactions of disagreement from the fans.
From the looks of it, however, it seemed like Zamboanga was ahead.
Zamboanga banked on her cage control, slowing Ham for most of the first two rounds.
However, play was halted with 2:20 left in the third round after an accidental headbutt caused a cut on Zamboanga's forehead.
After the bleeding was momentarily controlled, action resumed, and Zamboanga quickly went for a takedown that was believed to have decided the outcome of the match.
However, only one judge saw Zamboanga winning, while the two others had it for Ham, who won in her ONE Championship debut.
Ham, who fought thrice under UFC during the mid-2010s, has now won her last seven fights dating back to 2017 and is now at 24-8 overall.
Joining the semifinals of the GP are Ritu Phogat, Natthawan "Stamp Fairtex" Panthong, and Itsuki Hirata.
Hirata defeated Alyse Anderson, while Phogat stunned world ranked number two Meng Bo, both by unanimous decisions.
On the other hand, Panthong, ranked number four, got the better of ranked number three Alyona Rassohyna in their rematch via split decision as the former bounced back from her controversial submission loss to the former.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
.jpg)
