Singapore: Stamp Fairtex has taken one step closer to becoming ONE Championship's first-ever three-sport world champion.
The Thai -- who already held belts in both Muay Thai and kickboxing in the organisation -- forced Ritu "The Indian Tigress" Phogat into submission in the ONE atomweight World Grand Prix Championship final at the Singapore Indoor Stadium last weekend.
The finish came at the 2:14 mark of the second round and happened completely unexpected -- even for Stamp.
"I honestly never thought that I would defeat her that way," the Pattaya resident said. "The initial plan was to stand up and strike and also improvise my game plan."
The Thai fighter found the opportunity to slap on a triangle choke, which Phogat defended well.
With that, the Thai transitioned to an armbar, leaving the Singapore-based competitor unable to escape.
The win came as a surprise to many, especially since Phogat had success in executing one takedown after another.
Not many people expected Stamp to withstand her Indian opponent's wrestling pedigree.
But that's what she trained for.
"It was my game plan to avoid going to the ground with my opponent, but after colliding, after having to grapple with her, I knew that the power, the strength behind her was not the same as with my training partners," she said.
"There was a difference between the strength of the men and women that I trained with. That's when I started to have confidence."
With the victory, Stamp not only won the tournament silver belt, but also guaranteed a chance to face ONE atomweight world champion "Unstoppable" Angela Lee sometime next year.
"It's a great opportunity to fight against someone who's my idol, and it's one of the positions that I dream of standing in," Stamp said.
"Given this opportunity, I would have to look at, reflect on myself, and train even harder.
"I hope [Angela] trains really hard and has a good training camp for this fight, because at this moment, I'm very fresh and I'm ready for combat.
"I will try and take that belt from her."