In the opening round of One’s atomweight tournament, there were several interesting storylines, one of which involved Ham Seo Hee, who was making her promotional debut. Following her debut, where she defeated her opponent via split-decision, we had a chance to talk to her about the fight, the tournament, her past, and the future. This interview was conducted using a Korean translator. Please enjoy!
A controversial, bloody debut
When Ham stepped into the cage on September 3rd to face Denice Zamboanga, it was her first fight in close to two years. Despite this long lay-off, people were interested to see how the former number 1 atomweight would do in One, where the rules, judging criteria, and weight divisions are different. Adding to any potential difficulties raised by these differences, she was also set to make her debut against an undefeated fighter, 10 years her junior. In what can only be described as a strange fight, Ham defeated Zamboanga by split-decision. When this decision was announced, it seemed to confuse Shinya Aoki who was doing Japanese commentary. He wasn’t the only one, as some of the fans also appeared confused, the more vocal of which challenged it on social media. This actually led to the bout being formerly reviewed by the promotion, with the decision ultimately being upheld.
This all came as a surprise to Ham, who firmly believes that she won the fight. When the judges’ cards were being read and it became clear that it was going to be a split-decision, she was genuinely surprised. When remembering that moment, she told us, “To be honest, I was speechless after the fight. To me it was a sure win, I spent a lot of time studying their judging criteria before since I knew it was different. My whole plan was based off of their criteria. When people were saying it was close, I didn’t know how to respond, because understanding their criteria, I think I clearly won.” However, she is quick to acknowledge that the unique judging criteria may be a source of the confusion, adding that, “If it was under unified criteria, I can see that I lost. But I knew what One’s criteria is, so my strategy was based on that.”
When asked about the fight in general, she answered , “All I can say about the fight, is that I was the one leading. I led for the entire 15 minutes. I set the tone. That is how the fight flowed. It looks like she doesn’t agree with that, but to my recollection, I was the one setting the tone.” She also added that the bloody third round, which was the result of an accidental headbutt, made her pretty uncomfortable, as she doesn’t like to see blood in her fights, let alone get covered in it where she can smell it.
Advancing to the semi-finals to face Stamp
Abandoning the more traditional tournament structure, One decided to hold a fan vote in order to determine the semi-finals. Earning 41.18% of the vote, the fans voted for Ham versus Stamp and Itsuki versus Ritu. These matchups are all fine with Ham, who didn’t really have a preference either way. When asked about who she wanted to face, she told us that, “I don’t really care about the opponent. I think I will end up fighting all of the girls in the tournament when the time comes, so whether it’s next month or in the future, it doesn’t matter, just give me anyone.”
When notified that Stamp had campaigned for a fight with her, the playful Ham laughed, then responded, “If we compete, it is going to be a really exciting fight for the fans, it’s gonna be a war, so I think we will have fun in there.” As fate would have it, Stamp got her wish and this is the fight that is set to happen.
Joining One Championship, her 13th promotion
Having fought professionally since 2007, it isn’t really a surprise that Ham has fought for a number of promotions throughout her career. As a result, she has first hand experience with some of the world’s biggest promotions and had the chance to fight women from all over. However, One has a roster of young up and comers, who Ham hasn’t faced for the most part. She went on to tell us that this access to fighters she’s never faced before, is one of the reasons she signed with the promotion.
Now, with a fight under her belt, when asked about her new promotion, she replied, “I believe that every promotion has its time, its peak…At this time, One is up there as one of the best promotions in the world and they are doing well. That is why so many great fighters have joined their roster. One takes great care of all the fighters, I am really happy. How they treat their fighters is one of the reasons they are up there as a great promotion.”
However, she does acknowledge that there were some initial difficulties, especially with One’s unique weigh-in procedures and hydration tests, telling us, “In my professional experience over 15-16 years, I have never experienced anything like it. It was a special moment and good experience, but I made a lot of mistakes since it was my first time. I made it at the end of the day and I learned a lot…Not being able to cut water and making weight was really hard. I am so used to cutting water, so it was different. I was trying to lose weight, but I couldn’t lose water so it was more difficult than I thought it was going to be.”
A trip down memory lane
It is hard to imagine that when Ham decided to become an MMA fighter, it wasn’t a realistic option in her country. In fact, in her first 18 MMA fights, she only fought in South Korea once, with all the rest taking place in Japan. When asked about this difficulty, she remembered that, “It was a very difficult time for me. When I first started, I decided that I wanted to make it my career, but I soon realized that there was no stage for me. Even though I was preparing and training hard, I felt jobless because I couldn’t get fights. It was difficult, I even got confused at times, it was like am I Japanese or Korean since I spent so much time in Japan. It was very difficult due to the lack of opportunities for female fighters.”
Speaking of Japan, Ham Seo Hee is a veteran of the region, not just in MMA, but also in Shoot Boxing and kicboxing. She has fought almost every notable fighter available to her there. In her first six fights as an MMA fighter, her opponents included the knockout artist Hisae Watanabe, Miku Matsumoto, Yuka Tsuji, and the legendary Megumi Fujii. Looking at her whole career, you can add fighters like Ayaka Hamasaki, V.V. Mei, Miyuu Yamamoto, Emi Fujino, Rena, and Erika Kamimura.
When asked about making her MMA debut against the then Deep Champion and then facing a murderer’s row of veterans immediately afterwards, she reminisced that, “My debut was against a champion, then another champion and another, it was the best fighters on and on and on. Since it was my debut and I was still new to the sport, I thought it was natural. It was probably because I was Korean and I was fighting in enemy territory, so the fans wanted to see me lose or the promotions favored the Japanese fighters. I never complained and accepted whatever offers came my way and I just enjoyed it.”
During this discussion of her career, we took the opportunity to ask Ham, which of her fights is her favorite. In a somewhat surprising response, the multiple time MMA champion and former number 1 atomweight MMA fighter didn’t choose an MMA fight. Instead, her fight with Rena (Shoot Boxing) and her two fights with Erika Kamimura (Shoot Boxing, Kickboxing) stand out to her as her favorites. However, when prodded, she admitted that this is partly due to her origins in kickboxing and Muay Thai. This passion for kickboxing and Muay Thai could lead to potential bouts in One, to which Ham commented, “I love fighting, Muay Thai, kickboxing, or MMA, it doesn’t matter to me. If One gives me an offer, I’ll always be interested.”
The Future
At 34 years old, with over 30 MMA bouts under her belt, Ham’s motivations as a fighter haven’t changed that much. At its core, she is motivated by a desire to do better and achieve more. When she first started training, this meant that she wanted to experience a fight, to prove she wasn’t a quitter. When she won this fight, this meant that she wanted to win a championship. When she won a championship, this mean that she wanted to win a more prestigious championship. She elaborated even further, “If people think I’m at my peak, I want to show them that I can get better. I want to give them better performances. If people think I am the number 1 fighter in the world and that I can’t be ranked any higher, I still want to show them that I’m better.”
Motivated by the desire to do better and better, she did admit to us that she doesn’t think she is in her prime anymore, commenting that “I don’t think I’m at my peak anymore, with my age and all. But I know that my body is moving well and depending on how much I train, my mentality, and whether or not I am injured, I know I can still perform. I know I am still up there. I am not retiring soon, my body is moving very well.”
Ham Seo Hee is set to face Stamp Fairtex on October 29th.
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