Denice Zamboanga Meets Alyona Rassohyna For Interim Women’s Atomweight MMA World Title At ONE Fight Night 25
Denice “The Menace” Zamboanga and Alyona Rassohyna have a huge opportunity ahead of themselves at ONE Fight Night 25 on Prime Video.
With the division’s reigning queen Stamp Fairtex still recovering from a torn meniscus, the highly ranked duo will square off for the ONE Interim Women’s Atomweight MMA World Championship live in U.S. primetime on Friday, October 4.
The battle will take place at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, where the home favorite will likely be in attendance to get a solid look at her next possible opponent for a future World Title unification bout.
However, these are two athletes that Stamp knows very well.
Zamboanga was a key training partner for the 26-year-old when they were developing their combat skills at Fairtex Training Center in Pattaya, Thailand, and they became close friends in the process.
Though Stamp skyrocketed up the divisional ladder and claimed the ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Title in September 2023, the Filipina would also author some outstanding performances in the Circle, ultimately earning the #2 spot in the women’s atomweight rankings.
With back-to-back wins, Zamboanga was scheduled to challenge her former teammate for the belt at ONE 167 this past June, but Stamp was forced to withdraw from the bout due to her injury. “The Menace” still opted to compete at the show, where she defeated French-Thai rising star Noelle “Lil’ Monkey” Grandjean.
Currently, the atomweight queen is making progress in her rehabilitation, but she still isn’t 100 percent. With that in mind, the division is moving forward and the Filipina will challenge for the interim crown instead.
Zamboanga has a tough test in Rassohyna, who is one of only two women to defeat Stamp in mixed martial arts competition.
The Ukrainian tapped her Thai rival out with a buzzer-beating third-round submission back in February 2021, proving how potent her grappling skills are at any point in a fight.
Stamp got her revenge via split decision in their rematch later that year, but Rassohyna still had her moments in that battle, coming close to snatching up another limb from the Pattaya native.
Boasting 11 submissions from her 13 career wins, Rassohyna – the #4-ranked women’s atomweight contender – has the ground acumen to trouble anybody in the weight class, and she’s only ever a split second away from victory.
Zamboanga has been in the World Title conversation for several years now, first against the now-retired “Unstoppable” Angela Lee and then Stamp.
Although her target has changed to Rassohyna, “The Menace” won’t be any less motivated as she looks to get 26 pounds of gold draped over her shoulder.
But the 34-year-old Ukrainian isn’t turning up to play her bit part in Zamboanga’s dreams, and a win would tee up a captivating trilogy with Stamp.
Stay tuned to onefc.com for more news about ONE Fight Night 25 on Prime Video.
