“We were training together in our garage” - First Filipina MMA world champion Denice Zamboanga recalls her humble beginnings

Denice Zamboanga once trained in mixed martial arts with her brother on a whim.

Never in her wildest imagination did she think that this would lead to her making history for the Philippines one day.

Appearing in an interview on Atleta Filipina's YouTube channel, 'The Menace' recalled how she started after getting invited by her brother, former ONE Championship fighter Drex Zamboanga, to lace on the gloves:

"My brother just said, ‘Denice, do you want to try fighting in MMA?’ It was just like that, and then eventually, we were training together in our garage. It was just the two of us, and it was only about five square meters of space for training. He was just teaching me the basics of the ground game, submissions, and takedowns."

Fast forward years later, Denice Zamboanga would break barriers and become the first woman of Filipino descent to become an MMA world champion in the world's largest martial arts organization.

The 28-year-old made her dream come true at ONE Fight Night 27 last January, notching a resounding finish over Alyonna Rassohyna to claim the interim atomweight MMA crown.

On Aug. 1, Zamboanga will gun for the real thing as she looks to unify the 115-pound belts against reigning atomweight MMA world titleholder Stamp Fairtex at ONE 173: Denver.

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Denice Zamboanga reminisces about how friendship with Stamp started

Obviously, the biggest storyline of this massive world title unification bout is the relationship between the two former training partners.

Denice Zamboanga knows the Thai megastar all too well after their time together at Fairtex Training Center in Pattaya, Thailand.

While 'The Menace' has switched gyms, her bond with Stamp remains. She shared in the same interview:

"When I started training in Thailand, I trained with her. We were sparring partners - for five five-minute rounds, we were together. There’s a lot of girls there, but we were the ones who were matched up when it came to sparring."

'The Menace' continued:

"After training, we would have dinner together. So our closeness has always been there, and we are close friends."

Visit watch.onefc.com for more updates about ONE 173: Denver, which will take place inside the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado

Watch the full interview: