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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Noelle Grandjean promises to crush Denice Zamboanga's world title aspirations

Noelle Grandjean promises to crush Denice Zamboanga's world title aspirations

Published May 27, 2024 06:02 am

At A Glance

  • She's under no illusion that a win will come easily for her, especially with "The Menace" already preparing for a five-round World Title fight. But Grandjean knows what a victory over the second-ranked atomweight would do for her own championship aspirations. 

Noelle “Lil Monkey” Grandjean believes she made the right decision to take the fight against ranked No. 2 Denice “The Menace” Zamboanga despite having less than three weeks to prepare.

Noelle-Grandjean-3.jpg
Noelle “Lil Monkey” Grandjean (ONE Championship)

With ONE Atomweight MMA World Champion Stamp Fairtex pulling out after tearing her meniscus last week, Grandjean now serves as her replacement against Zamboanga at ONE 167: Tawanchai vs. Nattawut II on June 8, at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

She’s under no illusion that a win will come easily for her, especially with “The Menace” already preparing for a five-round World Title fight. But Grandjean knows what a victory over the second-ranked atomweight would do for her own championship aspirations.

“I’m just thinking that a lot of people would love to have this opportunity and I just can’t let this opportunity slide. The universe wants this to happen so I just have to do it,” she said.

“It’s my job to also secure the fight for ONE Championship and its fans and hopefully take the win back to Thailand.”

Grandjean would also like to use this fight as an opportunity to make up for what was a disappointing performance against unbeaten Japanese wrestler Chihiro Sawada earlier this month.

In that fight, Sawada dominated her from start to finish, and Grandjean wants nothing more than to erase that memory — and what better way to do that than by crashing Zamboanga’s World Title run.

“I’d like to have fun again. My last fight, I didn’t really express myself as I wanted. I had some doubts about my career after that and even before the fight,” she said.

“Then I got a call from ONE, so I think the universe wants me to get back in. I’d like to have fun in there. I know the fans will be there, the Thai crowd, so I just want to perform well and put on a great show with Denice.”

With that in mind, she wants Zamboanga to put on a show with her.

“I’m the replacement for Stamp,” she said. “You’re still fighting a Thai. Let’s go have fun there and may the best woman win.”

Related Tags

Denice Zamboanga ONE Championship
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