Split draw stains Denice’s record

Denice Zamboanga suffered the first blemish of her career after a controversial split decision to South Korean veteran Seo Hee Ham in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Atomweight Grand Prix in the all-women ONE – “Empower” on Sept. 3, 2021 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.

The 24-year-old Zamboanga quickly put pressure on Seo and pinned her to the cage. She was very effective on the clinch and landed some short punches to the head and knees to the body. Zamboanga finished the round strong with a takedown.

In the second round, Seo landed right that backed Zamboanga to the cage. But Zamboanga answered with a double leg takedown.

In the third round, Zamboanga landed a right head kick that stunned Seo. The 34-year-old Seo connected with a left straight that bothered Zamboanga.

Zamboanga suffered a huge gash on her forehead after an accidental clash of heads with Seo in the third round.

After a brief halt to the action, with her cut checked out by the ring physician, Zamboanga immediately sprung back into action and slammed Seo to the canvas.

She pinned Seo to the ground and unleashed some blows from the top up until the final bell. Despite her dominant finish, two of the three judges still scored it in favor of Seo.

Zamboanga, the No. 1 rated atomweight, is out of the Women’s Atomweight Grand Prix after the loss. She suffered her first career defeat and dropped to 8-1.

Seo, a former UFC fighter, advances to the semifinals and improved to 24-8.

Stamp Fairtex, Ritu Phogat and Itsuki Hirata join Seo in the semifinals. The winner of the Women’s Atomweight Grand Prix earns a title shot against ONE Women’s atomweight champion Angela Lee.

Meanwhile, Filipina-American Jackie Buntan outclassed Argentinean Daniela Lopez via a one-sided unanimous decision in a Muay Thai contest.

Buntan displayed her impressive footwork and accurate combinations the whole fight.

Buntan rocked Lopez with a right straight-left hook combination in the opening round.

Buntan continued where she left off in the first round and landed some kicks to the body and combinations to the head. She landed a front kick to the face of Lopez that stunned her.

The 24-year-old Buntan continued to impress and almost knocked out Lopez with a right straight-left hook combination.

Buntan won her third straight fight in ONE and is now 23-5, while Lopez fell to 7-4. (EKA)