ONE Championship atomweight MMA champion Stamp Fairtex revealed she is targeting a return to action in early 2025.
Stamp was booked to headline back to back numbered events this summer, starting with June’s ONE 167 card in Bangkok, and then ONE 168 in Denver last month.
Surgery on her meniscus ruled her out of both fights, however.
“I’m very good right now, everything is getting better,” the 26-year-old Thai told the Bangkok Post backstage during ONE Friday Fights 81 at Lumpinee Stadium last week.
“Yeah, now I can walk a little bit, I can jump and jog, and in a few months I can do boxing. Hopefully next year around March or April I can return, something like that.”
Stamp was set to defend her atomweight MMA title against Denice Zamboanga at Impact Arena, before bidding for a second belt up at strawweight against China’s Xiong Jingnan at Ball Arena in Colorado.
“I was really sad I wasn’t able to show up in Denver, because my fans were asking me ‘Where are you?’,” Stamp recalled. “I said ‘I’m so sorry’. Really sad to not be there.
“I wanted to show up for everyone and fight there. After the surgery, they didn’t want me to go and I didn’t want to go because I could not be on an airplane for so long.
In Stamp’s continued absence, Zamboanga was set to fight No 4-ranked Alyona Rassohyna for the interim atomweight title this week in the ONE Fight Night 25 co-main event.
But the fight was scratched from Lumpinee Stadium, with the Philippines’ Zamboanga now out injured as well.
“I don’t know if it’s going to happen or when, but I hope they can still fight,” Stamp added. “I know them both and want to see it for sure. I don’t know who wins.”
The proposed matchup did not go down well with former title challenger Ham Seo Hee, whom Stamp beat to win the vacant belt last September in Singapore following Angela Lee’s retirement announcement.
South Korean veteran Ham was dismayed not to be in the conversation for an interim belt, given she has beaten Zamboanga twice in ONE, and Rassohyna outside of the promotion in 2018.
Zamboanga hit back, saying it was time for a new challenger to step up, with Ham responding to the Bangkok Post that her old rival was ducking a trilogy fight against her.
“I saw her Instagram, she posted about this. And some I agree with Ham, some I agree with Denice,” Stamp said, diplomatically.
“Because Ham had a chance to fight with me already, and there has to be a next one to have a chance to fight with me.”
As for her own future in the ring, Stamp is targeting that possible unification fight at atomweight before looking to challenge Xiong again.
“Let me heal everything, recover 100 percent and then I can beat everyone. No, I mean fight with everyone!” she added, correcting her own English.
“It should be a title defence first. But I want to face Xiong Jingnan, it’s a good fight.
“It means I have a lot of opportunities, a lot of experience. Oh yeah, please, come on. It means money comes, so I’m OK.”