ONE Championship: Stamp Fairtex promises to show ‘killer instinct’ in Alyona Rassohyna grand prix rematch
- Former Muay Thai and kick-boxing champ promises she has ‘something to show everyone’ in first round of atomweight MMA tournament
- Ukraine’s Rassohyna expects Stamp will be ‘very careful’ this time after dramatic submission loss in February
Seven months may have gone by, but Stamp Fairtex has not changed her mind.
“I still insist in the last fight I didn’t tap,” she told a ONE Championship media day of her dramatic defeat by Alyona Rassohyna in February. “But I’m cool that the referee saw it was a tap, so I just respect his decision.”
The 23-year-old Thai (5-1) arguably dominated Rassohyna (13-4) for nearly all of five rounds before the 31-year-old grappling specialist caught her in a guillotine at the death. The referee stepped in with seven seconds to go, after Stamp appeared to give up.
The pair will finally rematch in the quarter-finals of the Asian promotion’s atomweight grand prix on Friday night’s all-female Empower card at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. And one thing that has changed is former ONE Muay Thai and kick-boxing champ Stamp’s approach to the Ukrainian.
“My only thing in my mind is I will do whatever I have to do to leave the cage with my arm raised,” Stamp said.