Filipina fighter Denice Zamboanga suffered another heartbreaking decision loss at the hands of South Korean rival Ham Seo Hee in their women's atomweight bout in ONE: X, ONE Championship's 10th-year anniversary event, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium Saturday, March 26.
Ham, currently No. 3, dominated second-seeded strawweight Zamboanga down the canvas after securing a commanding top position in all three rounds followed by ground and pound punishment en route to a unanimous decision win.
The South Korean veteran now inched closer to a title shot as she awaits the winner between reigning women's atomweight queen Angela Lee and grand prix champion Stamp Fairtex and also settled unfinished business with Zamboanga after the Filipina's controversial loss in their first meeting in the first round of the inaugural women's atomweight grand prix last September 2021.
Ham finished the third round strong as she used her weight en route to a counter takedown against Zamboanga at the 2:40 mark.
From that point, the No. 3 strawweight contender never looked back and dominated the Marrok Force fighter from top position.
Zamboanga absorbed her second straight defeat and sustained an 8-2 record while Ham improved to 25 wins with eight losses.
Ham set up a right hook followed by a spinning elbow before Zamboanga caught her behind which enabled the South Korean to actually turn the tables pm the ground.
In the second round, Ham also defended a takedown attempt from the Filipina and scored a takedown of her own with plenty of four minutes left.
Ham took command of side control first and powered through with ground and pound action before taking top position anew and landing clean elbow strikes.
Zamboanga had her best round in the opener as she scored a huge takedown and unloaded a barrage of punches from top position.
After getting up back at their feet, the South Korean retaliated and used the remaining minute to take down Zamboanga and return the ground and pound punishment.