Three-sport queen Stamp Fairtex recalls when she started fighting at five years old: “I kept losing”

Before she was a three-sport world champion and the face of ONE Championship's atomweight division, Stamp Fairtex was just a five-year-old kid getting tossed around in the ring.

"Around five years old," Stamp said when Mightycast asked when she started Muay Thai. "When I fight, my opponents are really big. Then, I kept losing, so everyone said stop, and let me grow up. Then I only studied in high school. Then I fought again at around 18 years old until now."

Those early losses led her to step away and focus on school through her teenage years, but the fire never really left. Once she returned to fighting at 18, the story was different, and she has been climbing ever since.

Stamp's journey went from a scrappy little kid taking on bigger opponents to a three-sport queen in ONE Championship. It hasn't been clean, nor easy, but that stubborn spirit, the one that kept coming back even after tough losses, never left her side.

Watch the full interview below:

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“This is my life” - Stamp Fairtex says she will do everything in her power to keep atomweight gold, which includes beating Denice Zamboanga

When there's a belt on the line, fighters have an uncanny ability to set friendship aside for the moment.

As she prepares to defend her title against longtime friend and former training partner Denice Zamboanga, Stamp made it clear that she's not letting that emotion get in the way of business.

"It’s easy, I have to do what I have to do," she said. "It’s only one ticket, only one belt. I know everybody wants to steal my belt. I want to protect my belt. This is my life, and I want to take it to my home. Friends mean friends, but I’m an athlete. I’m a professional. So, just do it."

It's simple. One belt, one champion, and no room for hesitation. They can always go back to being friends when the war is over.