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When Stamp Fairtex vs. Anissa Meksen in a mixed-rules contest fell out last weekend, count ONE bantamweight Fabricio Andrade as one of the people most disappointed.
While the fight fell out on the day of the weigh-ins, it wasn’t immediately clear what the true reason was for the cancelation. While many, including Stamp, asserted that Meksen’s withdrawal was weight-related, the official reason given by Meksen and ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong was that the absence was due to a family issue.
The story became no less clear a week later, and another high-ranking ONE Championship fighter is just as in the dark as the rest of us. Fabricio Andrade recently spoke to media outlet The MMA Superfan about the occurrence, voicing his disappointment:
"I was of course looking forward to watching that one as well. Mixed rules have a question mark always and you never really know what's going to happen. I think most people were looking forward to watching the fight but like you, I don't know what happened. I hardly knew the fight was off and that was it."
Fabricio Andrade trains in Thailand and would be well connected within ONE Championship and other athletes in Thailand, so it further adds to the confusion.
Stamp Fairtex would be rebooked against another fighter in the same weight class whose opponent dropped out, Anna “Supergirl” Jaroonsak, to fight the following day. The bout was a pure kickboxing match, and Stamp Fairtex narrowly won the fight by split decision.
Stamp Fairtex not looking forward to fighting “unprofessional” Anissa Meksen
While Stamp Fairtex and Anissa Meksen may not have fought at ONE Fight Night 6, there’s already plans for them to meet- probably.
ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced at ONE Fight Night 6 that the two will fight this spring for the interim strawweight kickboxing world title.
However, since the announcement, Stamp Fairtex has cast doubt, or at the very least, a lack of enthusiasm around such a fight. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Stamp shared her feelings about fighting Meksen:
“I am not really looking forward to fighting Anissa [Meksen] because I consider this unprofessional. I think for the next fight, she’ll just be unprofessional like this and it affects me badly in a negative way.”
It sounds like there is still some negotiating to be done between the various parties to bring understanding to the original situation, as well as expectations around a future interim world title fight.
Either way, all of the drama has only added to fan interest in seeing the two fight. If Stamp warms to the idea of fighting the Frenchwoman, it could end up being one of the biggest striking-rule fights in ONE Championship history.
