
Stamp Fairtex is finally set to make her ONE Championship comeback in May, but not to defend her title – rather, she wants a kickboxing “warm-up” first.
ONE’s atomweight MMA champion has been sidelined since last June, when she underwent surgery on a torn meniscus.
That injury scrapped a planned title defence against Denice Zamboanga though the Filipino set up another fight date with the Thai by claiming the division’s interim belt last weekend in Bangkok.
But Stamp will shake off the ring rust in a different discipline first, before unifying the titles with Zamboanga.
“I think I’ll be back around May,” she told the Bangkok Post during a meet and greet with fans at ONE Fight Night 27, where she quipped it was “nice everyone didn’t forget me”.
“I have a fight probably in kickboxing, because I want a warm-up first,” she added at Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium. “Then I will defend the belt this year, maybe around August.
“I want to check my breathing, how to fight again, and I want to check my knee and my body, so that it’s all OK.”
Stamp has been stepping up her recovery at the Fairtex gym in Pattaya as she gears up for a return to the ring.
“Everything is getting better. My knee is getting better – maybe around 60 percent, or something like that,” she said.
“I’m not doing full training, around 60 per cent too – it’s not the same schedule but everything is getting there.”
Stamp stepped into the ring for a planned staredown with Zamboanga last Saturday, but it turned into a prolonged embrace between friends.

The former Fairtex training partners have seemingly been on a collision course since Stamp switched her focus full time from kickboxing and Muay Thai to MMA in 2021 – which prompted Zamboanga to leave the gym.
“Denice, she is really good, her boxing and ground game are very good,” Stamp added. “Even if it’s my best friend, it’s OK, everyone wants to see us fight.
“Everyone wants to steal my belt.”
Stamp had also been booked for a tilt at Xiong Jingnan’s strawweight MMA title last September in Denver before going under the doctor’s knife.
“I still want to fight her, as long as I can,” Stamp said. “I still want to do it. I want to get my chance. I want to improve, and prove to everyone that I can do it.”