Ham Seo Hee wants to lead ONE Championship’s charge into South Korea

Ham Seo Hee hopes to be the face of ONE Championship when the promotion eventually debuts in South Korea.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post a couple of weeks back, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong confirmed that his team is looking at bringing their world-class events to the country, alongside a return to Japan and a debut show in Qatar – set for December this year.

During that session, the lifelong martial artist said it would be much easier for the promotion to land in South Korea should Ham Seo Hee claim the ONE interim atomweight world title in the main event of ONE Fight Night 14 this Friday, September 29.

Knowing she could play a pivotal role in the organization’s inevitable premiere in her hometown, the Team MAD athlete’s motivation has sky-rocketed ahead of her showdown with Stamp Fairtex inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Speaking to SCMP this week, the 36-year-old veteran had this to say in response to Sityodtong’s words:

“If it’s a requirement that I win for ONE Championship to go to Korea, I’ll do my best to do that, you know. Yeah, I don’t wanna be greedy. I wanna stay humble, I don’t wanna be greedy, but I’ll do my very best. But, I really, really do want the company and ONE Championship to have an event in Korea.”

Watch the interview below:

Even if she doesn’t lay claim to the interim world title on fight night, the ONE Championship roster houses some serious talent from that region – including a former ONE world champion and a bonafide martial arts icon – enough to draw the masses.

Apart from Ham Seo Hee, the Singapore-based promotion is home to ex-lightweight kingpin Ok Rae Yoon, ‘The Fighting God’ Kim Jae Woong, No.4-ranked bantamweight contender ‘Pretty Boy’ Kwon Won Il, and legend of the sport Yoshihiro Akiyama.

All those warriors will be just as game as Ham Seo Hee to represent their nation in their own backyard.

But, of course, a world title win for the atomweight MMA fighter could be the biggest draw of the lot should ONE Championship add South Korea to its list of venues in the future.

In the meantime, catch ‘Hamzzang’ in action against Stamp in the main event of ONE Fight Night 14 on September 29. The card will be available in U.S. primetime to fans in North America with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.