ONE Championship: “My knee tweaked” - Stamp Fairtex recalls how she sustained gnarly knee injury that has kept her sidelined

Former three-sport ONE world champion Stamp Fairtex of Thailand has lost the women's atomweight MMA world title she won in 2023, but not in the way fans had expected her to.

Stamp agreed to relinquish her world title due to her extended inactivity, so that close friend and former training partner, interim queen 'The Menace' Denice Zamboanga can be recognized as the undisputed titleholder.

Stamp and Zamboanga were scheduled to meet in a unification showdown at ONE 173: Denver this August, but the Thai star suffered an injury setback and was forced to extend her recovery period.

In a recent guest appearance on Demetrious Johnson's 'Mighty Cast' show on YouTube, Stamp explained what happened.

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The 27-year-old said:

"I was training before the fight, about two weeks out. It was my world title defense against Denice. My partner took my back, and then she lifted me, but my feet were still on the ground, and then she turned. Then it felt like my knee tweaked. That sucked."

ONE 173 was also rescheduled to 2026 in the same venue at Denver's famed Ball Arena.

Needless to say, Stamp is still working on rehabbing her injured knee, but she is expected to make a full recovery soon.

Stamp Fairtex admits she may have rushed her healing: "I think I should have taken it slower"

There's nothing more that Stamp Fairtex wants than to get back in the cage and do what she loves.

However, the 27-year-old says that she may have become over-eager to recover and in turn, it did more harm than good.

She told 'Mighty Cast':

"Between training? In a day, like two or three hours, just sleep. When I train really hard, Mr. Wong would give me a massage or ice bath and hot bath, but that’s it. I find time like after dinner or after BJJ, I go to massage. A good recovery for me also is eating. I love to eat, that’s my recovery."

Stamp added:

"I think I should have taken it slower. Because I can learn everything and make sure step by step is okay."

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates surrounding Stamp Fairtex's next fight.

About the author

Dan is an MMA writer with 10+ years of overall experience. Before his ongoing tenure at Sportskeeda, Dan got the opportunity to be at the forefront of the sport by contributing to ONE Championship and Fight Game Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

Dan’s connection to MMA started during the early days of the UFC and ONE Championship. He previously practiced boxing and ranks Demetrious Johnson, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, and Fedor Emelianenko as the top five MMA fighters of all time.

He has covered several events onsite and on the ground for ONE Championship and hopes to continue doing so. He ensures that he churns out accurate articles by citing only legitimate sources and getting firsthand accounts through exclusive interviews whenever required.

Dan feels MMA fighter pay seems like an issue because it often gets compared to what fighters earn in boxing but that MMA will eventually catch up in the future.

His other interests include soccer and video games.

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Edited by Jigyanshushri Mahanta