How Stamp Fairtex and Ritu Phogat stack up against atomweight queen Angela Lee

The next fighter set to challenge Angela Lee for ONE Championship’s atomweight crown will soon be named, as fans witness the conclusion of the historic ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix next month.

The tournament began with eight of the world’s best atomweight talents battling for divisional supremacy. We are now down to the final two.

Former two-sport ONE world champion and No. 2-ranked atomweight contender Stamp Fairtex faces No. 4-ranked atomweight Ritu Phogat in the final round of the tournament, which takes place at ONE: Winter Warriors, live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, December 3.

The winner, of course, is expected to face Angela Lee in early 2022 with the ONE women’s atomweight world title on the line.

Angela Lee has dominated the opposition for years since winning the inaugural atomweight belt in 2016. Even strawweight queen Xiong Jing Nan failed in her attempt to usurp Angela Lee from her throne.

This begs the question: does Stamp Fairtex or Ritu Phogat have any chance of actually beating Angela Lee when the time comes?

Angela Lee is months-deep in her training and is preparing for her impending comeback.

Both Stamp Fairtex and Ritu Phogat have fantastic qualities that make them legitimate threats to the Singaporean superstar. Let’s break it down.

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Stamp’s superior striking will give Angela Lee problems

Angela Lee has had problems dealing with talented strikers.

The first fighter to give her fits was Japanese veteran Mei Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi presented a traditional karate style that proved problematic for the 24-year-old, almost stopping ‘Unstoppable’ in their 2016 bout. They squared off in a rematch in 2018 in a very close fight, and many fans thought Angela Lee lost that one.

When Angela Lee moved up to strawweight to challenge ONE women’s strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan in 2019, she got stopped for the first time in her career. Xiong punished Angela Lee to the body constantly, delivering the knockout blow in the fifth and final round to score a technical knockout victory.

Stamp Fairtex is widely considered the most dangerous striker in the atomweight division. She is the former atomweight kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion, so her striking repertoire is far more advanced than that of either Yamaguchi or Xiong. If anyone can give Angela Lee a run for her money, it’s certainly the Thai star.

Further boosting Stamp’s chances is the fact that she’s steadily improved her ground game over the past three years, working on both her wrestling and Brazilian jiu jitsu. Surely, it’s nowhere near the level of grappling Angela Lee brings into the ONE circle. One aspect of her game that Stamp takes great pride in is her strong takedown defense. That will come very handy against a dangerous submission specialist like ‘Unstoppable’.

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Phogat’s wrestling is second to none

Ritu Phogat sits at the other end of the spectrum, bringing an unparalleled wrestling pedigree into the cage

‘The Indian Tigress’ is a member of the famed Phogat wrestling family in India, led by her own father, legendary Pehlwani wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat. She is a highly decorated athlete, having won a Commonwealth Wrestling gold medal in 2016 and a silver medal at the prestigious World Under-23 Wrestling Championships in Poland, among other accomplishments.

Angela Lee is no slouch in the wrestling department either, but if we were to pit the two together, Phogat’s wrestling would be far superior. In fact, it’s safe to say that Phogat’s wrestling is second to none in the atomweight division.

‘The Indian Tigress’ proved as much in impressive performances against Meng Bo and Jenelyn Olsim, both highly skilled strikers who were shut down and nullified by Phogat in the Grand Prix. It’s certainly not unfathomable that Phogat would do the same to Angela Lee if she were to get a hold of the Singaporean on the mat.

Of course, none of this matters unless it can be proven in an actual fight. When Angela Lee meets either Stamp Fairtex or Ritu Phogat in the ONE circle, that will be the day of reckoning. But until then, fans will speculate and the drama will continue to build.