ONE Championship: Stamp Fairtex expects Xiong Jingnan to ‘handle’ Angela Lee in strawweight title fight
- Xiong and Lee will meet for a third time on October 1 in Singapore, with the former’s strawweight title hanging in the balance
- Thailand’s Stamp backs Xiong to win trilogy, pointing to the Chinese champion’s ‘fast and heavy’ strikes as a key to victory
Stamp Fairtex is backing Xiong Jingnan to defeat Angela Lee at ONE Championship on Prime Video 2.
China’s Xiong, ONE’s strawweight MMA champion, will defend her title against the Canadian-American Lee, the atomweight champion, in the main event of the card, slated for October 1 in Singapore.
It will be the third time the two champions have met, after trading a win apiece in their first two fights, and Thailand’s Stamp – one of the promotion’s biggest stars – is backing Xiong to end the rivalry on top.
“I think Xiong will still beat Angela in the strawweight division because this is her natural weight and her own belt,” she told ONE Championship’s official website. “She definitely trains hard to defend her title.”
Stamp, who will return to the ONE Circle against Jihin Radzuan in an atomweight bout on the same card, last fought in March, when she was submitted by Lee in a failed bid to swipe the division’s title.
While she was unable to defeat the atomweight champion, she got a good sense of her game in the fight, and believes she spotted a few weaknesses that Xiong might be able to expose.
“While this is Angela’s second fight after she returned from childbirth, in our last fight, I noticed that her cardio was still a bit off,” she said. “Xiong Jingnan has been more active in the Circle than Angela in recent years, so I think this is one of her advantages.
“Xiong’s punches are fast and heavy. I think she can handle Angela with those strikes. I think the game will go to Xiong Jingnan.”
Xiong (17-2) and Lee (11-2) first met in March 2019, with the former’s strawweight belt on the line. It was a competitive fight, but the Chinese striker ultimately defended her title with a fifth-round TKO.
ONE: Angela Lee, Xiong Jingnan trade barbs before trilogy title fight
The pair then engaged in a rematch in October of the same year, this time down at atomweight, with Lee’s belt hanging in the balance. The 26-year-old evened the score in the rematch, defending her title with a fifth-round submission in another close fight.
Xiong, 34, has defended her title three times since she lost to Lee at atomweight, defeating Tiffany Teo, Michelle Nicolini and Ayaka Miura, all by decision. Lee’s win over Stamp was her first since she defended her belt against Xiong.
Stamp (8-2) has spent the entirety of her career in the atomweight division, but was recently named as a potential opponent by Xiong.
The 24-year-old Thai was flattered by the strawweight champion’s suggestion, but does not see the match-up as a possibility for the time being.
“I’m happy that she sees me as her potential rival,” she said. “It means she might see something in me and look at me as a good opponent. I’m happy to fight with the best like her.
“I have lost weight from my hard training. It’s hard for me to gain weight to [get to the] strawweight division right now. I can eat more and make weight to fight with her, but it will make me sluggish in the Circle. But if one day I feel like I’m satisfied with the atomweight division, I might go up to strawweight because my body can still grow.”
