ONE Championship: Chatri refuses to confirm or deny Ham Seo-hee signing but promises ‘amazing female atomweight’ for grand prix
- Chatri says ‘I did hear Sakakibara was upset’ after Rizin president claims Ham is heading to ONE but adds ‘we’ve not made a statement, I’ll just leave it at that’
- ‘Everyone who is part of the grand prix has either an unbeaten record or a solid record, maybe losing once. You’re gonna see, it’s very stacked’
Chatri Sityodtong neither confirmed nor denied that ONE Championship has signed Ham Seo-hee but promised “one more amazing female atomweight” will be added to next year’s grand prix.
ONE atomweight champ “Unstoppable” Angela Lee (10-2) is expecting her first child in April, but has vowed to return to the Circle in late 2021 to face the winner of the Asian martial arts organisation’s eight-woman tournament.
Former ROAD FC champ and UFC strawweight Ham (17-8) vacated her RIZIN super atomweight title this month, with the Japanese promotion’s president Nobuyuki Sakakibara claiming the 33-year-old South Korean had signed for ONE.
“I should be announcing the atomweight world grand prix quite soon, definitely by the end of November, we’re just trying to wrap up one more amazing female atomweight that we’re trying to sign or in the process of signing,” Chatri told SCMP MMA. “If we sign her then we’ll make the big announcement of who the ladies are.”
“I think you just have to wait until our announcement,” ONE’s chairman added, when asked if the big signing was Ham. “I did hear Sakakibara was upset. We have not made a statement. I’ve not made a statement either about what he was saying. I’ll just leave it at that, but thanks for asking.”
The participants have not been confirmed yet, but the top five of the division – Denice Zamboanga (5-0), Meng Bo (14-5), Lin Heqin (14-2-1), former challenger Mei Yamaguchi (21-2) and former ONE atomweight Muay Thai and kick-boxing champ Stamp Fairtex (4-0) – are feasibly well-placed to be given a slot.