ONE Championship: Stamp Fairtex won’t take any chances in Anissa Meksen fight, plans to ‘find the submission’
- Stamp will face Meksen in Bangkok on January 14 in bout that will alternate between Muay Thai and MMA rules
- She will first meet Jihin Radzuan in atomweight MMA clash on Saturday in Singapore
Stamp Fairtex is days away from a high stakes atomweight MMA clash with Jihin Radzuan, but that is not the only challenge on the horizon for the ONE Championship star.
No matter the outcome of her imminent fight with Radzuan, the Thai will head right back to training for a special-rules attraction with kickboxing ace Anissa Meksen early next year, also at atomweight.
“The schedule is quite busy,” the 25-year-old told the Post from Singapore on Tuesday.
Stamp’s fight with Meksen will co-headline ONE on Prime Video 6 on January 14 in Bangkok – the promotion’s first event in Thailand since a series of closed-door events in the summer of 2020. The bout will alternate between Muay Thai and MMA rules, starting with the former.
Meksen is considered one of the top female fighters in Muay Thai and kickboxing competition, which implies she will be at a big advantage in the opening Muay Thai round, but the Algerian-French star might have her work cut out against Stamp.
The Thai is now ONE’s No 1-ranked atomweight MMA contender, but she is a lifelong striker herself, and formerly held the promotion’s atomweight Muay Thai and kickboxing titles – concurrently.
“I’m really excited for this fight,” Stamp said of the match-up. “It’s a special rules match with a really high level fighter. I think in the first round nobody will dominate.”
While Stamp (8-2 MMA) believes she can hold her own in the opening Muay Thai round with Meksen, she suspects the striking star will be out of her depth in the second round, when the bout switches to MMA rules.
In fact, it is in the second round that Stamp believes she will secure her victory – with the jiu jitsu skills she has been honing since she began her MMA journey.
“For sure, I’ll have the advantage in the MMA round,” she said.
“In her striking and punching range especially, she’s very dangerous. In that range, I will try to take her down, play the ground game, find the submission, and win.”
The first priority for Stamp, of course, is her imminent fight with Radzuan, which is set for the main card of ONE on Prime Video 2 this Saturday in Singapore.
She views the Malaysian, ONE’s No 5 atomweight contender, as a tricky challenge.
“Every fighter I face is special and challenging in their own way,” she said. “Most of the time, I’m the striker and they’re all ground specialist fighters.
“Jihin is a great fighter and I have to be careful about her.”
A win over Radzuan will be very valuable for Stamp. The Thai has not fought since she was submitted by long-reigning ONE atomweight MMA champion Angela Lee at ONE X in March, and a win over somebody of the Malaysian’s ilk would give her a big push back in the direction of the title.
She is hoping to fight for the belt again sooner rather than later, but is willing to battle other contenders like Radzuan if ONE needs further convincing – just as soon as her fight with Meksen is out of the way.
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“If I win [against Radzuan], I’ll still be in the No 1 [atomweight MMA] rankings,” she said.
“It’s really up to ONE Championship. I’m OK if they say the next fight will be the world title fight with Angela, or if I need to fight someone else just to keep my ranking. Both options are good.”
ONE on Prime Video 2 will be headlined by a strawweight MMA title fight between champion Xiong Jingnan of China, and Lee, who is hiking up from atomweight in a bid for a second belt.
The card will also include a featherweight kickboxing title fight between champion Superbon and challenger Tayfun Ozcan, and a clash for ONE’s inaugural flyweight submission grappling title, as Mikey Musumeci takes on Cleber Sousa.
