MANILA – ONE Championship has upheld Filipina mixed martial arts fighter Denice Zamboanga’s split decision loss against Ham Seo-hee in their Atomweight Grand Prix bout last week.
The verdict was reached after nine of the 14-member panel from ONE’s Competition Committee voted to affirm Ham’s victory over Zamboanga. The panel is comprised of internal and external officials, experts, past athletes, and judges.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, ONE chief executive officer Chatri Sityodtong expressed disappointment with the outcome of the review. He believes the Filipina fighter won the match.
“I still believe Denice won, but I respect and can see how the judges scored it for Ham,” he added. “I do feel Denice was owed at least a fair due process instead of just leaving it hanging there, but at the same time, I think both Ham and Denice can be very proud of their performances.”
The Zamboanga-Ham match happened last Friday night at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, and despite the Filipina’s better grappling skills, the Korean was named the winner via split decision.
With Zamboanga’s defeat confirmed, Sityodtong added that the Filipina will now fight Brazilian Julie Mezabarba in an alternate bout for the ONE Atomweight Grand Prix.
Mezabarba qualified for the alternate clash via unanimous decision win over Japanese veteran and former championship contender Mei Yamaguchi in the undercard of the Zamboanga-Ham battle.
“We did feel some of us that Denice deserves some sort of consolation prize for her performance and the fact it was a super close fight,” according to the ONE Championship official.
“I’m sure when she hears this news, she’s going to be super disappointed, but the competition committee does its best to ensure fair play. We’ve had decisions been ruled no contests, but more often we’ve upheld decisions,” he added./PN
