“For some reason, I want to lean towards Ritu” - Aung La Nsang picking Ritu Phogat to beat Stamp Fairtex in Grand Prix Final

Aung La Nsang is hard at work, ultimately looking to reclaim the belts that were lifted off his shoulders earlier this year. In his down time, the former champion makes it a point to catch some amazing ONE Championship fights.

One fight that interests La Nsang is the atomweight showdown between former two-sport world champion Stamp Fairtex and wrestling phenom Ritu ‘The Indian Tigress’ Phogat.

Stamp and Ritu square off in the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix Championship Final, which goes down at ONE: Winter Warriors on December 3rd, live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Speaking to ONE Championship in a recent interview, Aung La Nsang shared his championship pick.. Here’s what he had to say:

“I want to lean towards Ritu. For some reason, I want to lean towards Ritu. But you can't count Stamp out, you know, you can't count Stamp out. But I just think that Stamp kind of waits a little bit too much and Ritu is more head on, as far as the wrestling goes. She's going to be able to take Stamp down. And so I'm going to lean towards Ritu, but Stamp has a great chance against Ritu, because of her caliber of striking. I believe she has like 100 fights, you know, since she was a kid. Very experienced. And one punch or one kick can finish the fight, or one elbow or one knee could finish the fight. It's a very interesting matchup, and I look forward to it.”

It’s an interesting matchup indeed, and Aung La Nsang has every right to be pumped to watch it.

Aung La Nsang didn’t think Stamp Fairtex or Ritu Phogat would make it to the finals

Surprisingly, Aung La Nsang didn’t believe either of the two would make it this far.

Now ranked No. 2 in the atomweight division, Stamp Fairtex had to power through Alyona Rassohyna and Julie Mezabarba to make the final round. Similarly, Ritu Phogat overcame stiff challenges from Meng Bo and Jenelyn Olsim to find herself in the No. 4 ranking in the division.

“To be honest, I didn't expect Ritu or Stamp to make it that far, into the finals. I thought, you know, the more experienced fighters, like Meng Bo would be in the final. But stylistically, they’re young, hungry. Stylistically, one’s a wrestler and one’s a striker. But both of them are mixed martial artists. But, you know, strong suit, one grew up wrestling, one grew up Muay Thai. It's going to come down to who's able to impose their game plan and who's able to negate their opponent’s game.”

The winner of the prestigious tournament will earn the right to face division queen Angela Lee for the ONE women’s atomweight world title sometime in 2022. Lee is currently deep in training, preparing for her inevitable return to the Circle.

Aung La Nsang believes both Stamp and Ritu pose real threats to Lee’s reign.

“I mean, it really depends on how they prepare for it, how they game plan for it, but as far as the skill set goes, I think Stamp’s striking is better than Angela’s. And as far as wrestling goes, I do believe that Ritu’s wrestling is better than Angela’s. So they do have some danger for the reigning queen. And I believe that whoever wins this will give Angela a good fight, for sure.”