'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAHAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYH/8QAFQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH/2gAMAwEAAhADEAAAAMcmSv/EAB4QAQACAQQDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQABRESBkGh/9oACAEBAAE/ANmnj3+I7xDJbHIlwUPKkOqS+uiOMgytsH2dTX//xAAUEQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA/9oACAECAQE/AH//xAAWEQADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVH/2gAIAQMBAT8AcP/Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Thai superstar Stamp Fairtex has gone a long way in her martial arts journey. She, however, said it has not all been smooth-sailing and she has to deal with rough patches along the way.
ONE Championship's only three-sport world champion opened up about her decade-long martial arts campaign in an interview with combat sports journalist Nick Atkin, which dropped on YouTube late last month.
Stamp shared that achieving three-sport glory entailed a lot of sacrifices and while she was in the thick of her reign she had to deal with a lot of disappointments as well.
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
"I feel like my life is not easy. I have a lot of challenges. A lot of challenges have come into my life. Like, when I had the kickboxing and Muay Thai belt, I lost it, and I was heartbroken. Then I came to the Grand Prix, and I won the Grand Prix belt.
Trending
"Then I come to MMA belt for Angela Lee, and then it’s surgery. And then I had a problem with recovery, and I had to cancel, and lose my belt again."
Watch the interview below:
Stamp has significantly upped her stock as a martial artist when she joined ONE Championship in 2018 after establishing her name in the combat sports scene in Thailand. Since then, she has become one of the true superstars in the "Home of Martial Arts."
She won the promotion's atomweight kickboxing title in her ONE debut in October 2018 by beating Chuang Kai Teng of Chinese Taipei via decision.
She then followed it up by defeating American legend Janet Todd by decision in February 2019 to add the atomweight Muay Thai belt to her world title haul.
In 2020 though, she would lose both titles in successive fashion, losing the kickboxing belt to Todd (February) by split decision and the Muay Thai gold to Allycia Hellen Rodrigues (August) by majority decision.
From there, she spent most of the time competing in mixed martial arts, where she became the atomweight world champion in September 2023. Unfortunately for her, a knee injury forced her to relinquish it even before she got to defend the belt.
In ONE Championship, she currently has a 14-4 win-loss record.
Stamp wants to be fully healed first before making her return to action
Stamp is currently in her rehab process from the knee injury she suffered in training last year. She has no plans of short cutting her recovery and wants to be fully healed before plunging back into action.
She spoke about it in an interview with the South China Morning Post, highlighting she is going to take it a step at a time.
The 27-year-old Fairtex Training Center standout said:
"Now I'm focused a lot about rehab. So, I think maybe [in] two or three months or four months I can train like normal."
Stamp was initially penciled in to defend the atomweight MMA belt in a unification match against interim champion Denice Zamboanga of the Philippines later this year. She, however, hit a snag in her recovery from knee injury and had to withdraw, eventually making the decision to relinquish her title for things to move on in the atomweight division.
