March 29, 2024

The controversial split decision loss of Filipino female mixed martial arts fighter Denice Zamboanga to Ham Seo-hee will be reviewed by ONE Championship’s special committee following public outcry on the decision.
ONE top honcho Chatri Sitdyodtong made the announcement two days after the Sept. 3 bout, which forms part of the all-female bouts for the ONE women’s atomweight world Grand Prix.
Fans have flooded with messages Sityodtong’s social media account to order a review on the three five-minute bout between Zamboanga and Ham where the Filipino fighter landed most strikes and takedowns.
ONE has its set of rules where every bout is judged by three judges for its entirety, not round-by-round. 
Based on statistics from ONE’s own app posted by a fan, Zamboanga has landed 46 significant strikes out of the 202 thrown strikes while Ham landed 24 out of the 154 strikes thrown.
Zamboanga also dominated the other area with her successful takedowns against zero successful takedown by the Korean fighter, who is one of the perceived strongest candidates among the Grand Prix contenders.
Even former and active MMA fighters agreed with the observation of the fans that Zamboanga clearly dominated the fights in terms of strikes thrown and successful takedowns that would have warranted a unanimous decision in her favor.
Other fans also commented that since Zamboanga is the top one contender for the ONE women’s atomweight division currently reigned over by Angela Lee, she should simply fight the winner of the Grand Prix.
In a post-fight interview, Zamboanga said: “I’m speechless right now. For me I clearly won the fight unanimously. I really believe I won the fight. I can’t accept and I’m disappointed with the judges’ decision.”
But Ham said in an interview with foreign press claimed she won the fight while she advised Zamboanga to review the rules adopted by ONE.
“In my opinion I think she should go and study the rules first, because if she knows the rules from the start to the end, I believe she would agree I won the fight, so I don’t know what to say,” Ham said in a post-fight interview. – Harley F. Palangchao