Denice Zamboanga reveals striking was part of the game plan against Julie Mezabarba

At ONE Fight Night 9, Denice Zamboanga recorded her fifth win under the ONE Championship banner to secure her position in the atomweight rankings.

Zamboanga has been one of the standout contenders in her weight class since debuting with the promotion back in 2019. The 26-year-old suffered the first loss of her career back in September 2021, dropping a very close split decision loss to Ham Seo Hee.

In March of last year, she faced the South Korean veteran in a straight rematch but lost a unanimous decision the second time around. But with a win over Lin Heqin at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December last year, the Filipino fighter rebounded from her losses to one of the top contenders at atomweight.

At ONE Fight Night 9 on April 21, she looked to produce back-to-back wins when facing off with Brazil’s Julie Mezabarba. Getting her hand raised by way of unanimous decision, the clear advantage for Zamboanga was in the striking ranges as she landed more consistently with cleaner shots.

In her post-event interview, Denice Zamboanga revealed that she had been working on this aspect of her game and was looking forward to putting it into practice:

“I like challenging myself when it comes to striking. That was our game plan. For me to have that confidence in my striking.”

With her victory over Julie Mezabarba, Denice has set herself up for a big fight next time out that could get her closer to challenging for a world championship for the first time in her career.