“You want to prove that loss cannot define you” - Denice Zamboanga ready to rise up from loss to Ham

Denice Zamboanga has just one loss on her MMA record. But that lone defeat is an episode that has haunted her for nearly seven months.

The Filipino fighter won all eight of her fights and went 3-0 in ONE Championship to become its no.1 atomweight contender. Zamboanga’s rise, however, was derailed the moment she lost to South Korean veteran Ham Seo Hee late last year.

While she’s still in the top five of the atomweight rankings as the no. 2 contender, Zamboanga feels her shot at the title is slowly slipping away.

Such is her desire to return to form that the 25-year-old has vowed to do whatever it takes to beat Ham in their rematch at ONE X. The two women will lock horns at ONE Championship’s 10-year anniversary show, which broadcasts live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday, March 26.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Zamboanga said:

“If you come from a loss, you’ll have that hunger, that urge to train harder. You want to prove that loss cannot define you. I've been training hard since then. I missed the circle, and I cannot wait to be back to show everyone how much I have improved.”

Denice Zamboanga suffered her only career defeat when Ham took a close but controversial split decision victory in the quarterfinal round of the ONE Women’s atomweight World Grand Prix.

Half of the viewing public believed the ‘The Lycan Queen’ was the clear aggressor and did enough to get the win while the other half saw ‘Arale Chan’ as the rightful winner.

ONE Championship put the decision before its competition committee but the panel upheld Ham’s victory. The fight was so controversial that ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong ordered an immediate rematch between the two for ONE X.

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Denice Zamboanga plans to rewrite history

Zamboanga admitted that the loss was such a big deal for her that she described it as one of the worst experiences she’s ever had.

The Marrok Force MMA fighter was already within striking distance of the ONE women’s atomweight world title currently held by Angela Lee, but the setback to Ham meant she had to come back up just to get a shot at the belt.

“It was one of the darkest days for me as I've been saying ever since then that I won that fight. But it happened already, and it's just a story now. What I can do for this upcoming rematch is to rewrite history."

While her bout against Ham was certainly controversial, Denice Zamboanga said she doesn’t harbor any ill will towards the 35-year-old veteran.