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Denice Zamboanga didn't expect to become an MMA fighter while she was still working a normal office job when she was younger.
This January, Zamboanga fought Alyona Rassohyna at ONE Fight Night 27. 'The Menace' defeated Rassohyna by second-round knockout to capture the ONE interim women's atomweight MMA interim world title.
During an interview with Atleta Filipina, the Filipino superstar was asked if she was confident about becoming a world-class athlete while she was still doing other jobs at a younger age. Zamboanga responded:
"Actually, I really didn’t. If I expected to be doing this when I was younger, maybe I wouldn’t have worked. Maybe after I graduated from college, I would have started training full-time already and didn’t work in an office. So yeah, this was an unexpected path for me."
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Denice Zamboanga made her ONE Championship debut in December 2019 and won her first three promotional fights. 'The Menace' then endured a significant setback due to consecutive decision losses against Ham Seo Hee.
The 28-year-old has since won four consecutive fights, with her last loss coming against Ham in March 2022. Zamboanga's latest win against Alyona Rassohyna has set up a must-see world title unification bout.
Watch Zamboanga's entire interview with Atleta Filipina below:
Denice Zamboanga plans to become undisputed world champion against Stamp Fairtex
Denice Zamboanga was initially supposed to fight Stamp Fairtex for the ONE women's atomweight MMA world title in 2024. Stamp pulled out due to an injury while Zamboanga secured wins against Noelle Grandjean and Alyona Rassohyna.
On Aug. 1, Stamp Fairtex will return in the ONE 173: Denver main event with one goal: to regain undisputed world champion status.
Stamp and Zamboanga have a history outside of being potential opponents. The world-class women's atomweight MMA fighters are former training partners at Fairtex Training Center, where they established a close friendship.
Stamp will put her friendship aside and attempt to push her promotional MMA record to 12-2 against the battle-tested Zamboanga.
ONE 173 represents the promotion's return to North America. The Aug. 1 event goes down inside the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, where the highly entertaining ONE 168 spectacle took place in 2024.
