On September 3rd, the popular striker Stamp Fairtex will return to action in the opening round of the ONE Championship Atomweight Tournament. This tournament includes several fighters who have played a key role in developing the sport in their native countries, like Seo Hee Ham, Bo Meng, and Stamp. While she may not be the first female mixed martial artist from Thailand, Stamp has shown that some opportunities exist for women in the country to extend their careers and find financial success via fighting.
Her Impact on Martial Arts in Thailand
Until recently, the career path of female fighters in Thailand was fairly predictable. Like their male counterparts, they would start fighting young, at a young age, between 5-8 years old. However, this is where the similarities end. Notably, while their careers start at a similar time, they do not have the same longevity. In fact, on an episode of Sylvie Von Duuglas-Ittu’s podcast, she and her husband explained that female fighters tend to peak at around 16, as that is when they are able to get a lot of good fights. Afterwards, their careers start to slow-down and they have a hard time finding opponents. As a result, they usually retire at around 18 or 19. However, relatively recently, some fighters have been able to escape this short career span by branching out to foreign promotions. One of these fighters is Stamp.
Like other women before her, Stamp eventually ran out of opponents and had to stop fighting. However, whatever the reason, she was offered another fight several years later, which motivated her to start fighting again. This then led to her becoming the first woman invited to join the famous Fairtex gym as a professional fighter. This access to elite-level training helped develop her into an even better fighter and led to her taking her first MMA fight at an event hosted by ONE Championship’s Rich Franklin. She won the fight in impressive fashion, knocking her opponent out in 19 seconds, and earned a contract with the promotion. Since then, One Championship has heavily promoted her, she has gained over 300,000 followers on social media, and perhaps most importantly, she has shown female fighters in Thailand that they can keep fighting past 18 or 19.
The Upcoming Tournament
There will be some extra drama involved when Stamp enters the cage on September 3rd. As the only fighter coming into the tournament off of a loss, she will be in a position to rectify that, as her opponent is the woman who beat her. When Stamp fought Alyona Rassohyna in February, the fight ended with some controversy. Officially, Stamp lost the fight via a guillotine choke with 7 seconds left. However, as soon as the match was over, a visibly upset Stamp claimed, and later posted on social media, that she didn’t tap.
Whether she tapped or not, Stamp will now have a chance to avenge her only MMA loss. This appears to be serving as additional motivation, as when asked about the tournament, Stamp had the following to say, “Apart from [this] being the largest tournament of female mixed martial artists, it is an opportunity to correct what I did wrong in my last fight… I want to prove that I’m really better than her and can defeat her. I’m doing whatever it takes to win this fight.”
In addition to her obvious desire to fight Alyona again, Stamp has also mentioned another fighter. Prior to the tournament, she had mentioned wanting to fight Itsuki Hirata. Now serving as the Japanese representative, this fight is possible. The feeling appears to be mutual as Itsuki has also expressed a desire to fight the Thai. However, it is worth noting that for this match to take place, both would have to make it to the finals.
Stamp Fairtex will be fighting Alyona Rassohyna on September 3rd at ONE Championship: Empower, in Singapore.
How to watch
- US: Bleacher Report, B/R App, or B/R’s YouTube channel
- China: Great Sports or iQiYi
- India: Disney + Hotstar or Star Sports Select 1
- Japan: Abema TV
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