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Mixed Martial Arts

Denice Zamboanga returns to ONE Circle in April


Filipina vixen Denice Zamboanga will get another opportunity to build momentum towards clinching a potential shot at the coveted ONE women’s atomweight championship.

Tiebreaker Times has learned from a reliable source that the 26-year-old from Quezon City will go head-to-head with Brazil’s Julie Mezabarba on the undercard of ONE Fight Night 9, which is set to take place at the fabled Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on April 22.

Zamboanga, who holds a 9-2 professional record, is coming off a redemption victory over China’s Lin Heqin at ONE 164 this past December.

“The Menace” went through the wringer with Lin over the course of three rounds, but she managed to turn in an all-around vanquishing to walk away with a hard-earned unanimous decision and break her two-fight losing skid.

Zamboanga currently sits at the No. 3 spot in the promotion’s ever-changing female atomweight rankings.

She was once on the cusp of vying for Angela Lee’s gold-plated strap but eventually got lost in the mix due to the latter’s long layoff, which prompted the Singapore-based combat sports outfit to host the ONE Women’s Atomweight Grand Prix.

Zamboanga participated in the aforementioned tournament, where she sustained a controversial split decision to Seo Hee Ham in the quarterfinal round in September 2021.

Both women would run it back in March 2022, but Ham still had the final laugh with a convincing unanimous decision win over Zamboanga.

The lady standing in the way of Zamboanga is Mezabarba, who owns a 9-4-1 standing as a mixed martial artist.

Mezabarba started her ONE Championship stint on a high note, outlasting former two-time title challenger Mei Yamaguchi in September 2021.

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However, the Brazilian has failed to build on her upset victory over Yamaguchi, falling short in succeeding outings against the likes of Stamp Fairtex and Jenelyn Olsim.

Written By

Nissi Icasiano is a sportswriter, analyst and editor from the Philippines. He started his professional career in 2013. He has also written for various media outlets such as Rappler.com, ABS-CBN, Tiebreaker Times, Philboxing.com, MSN.com, South China Morning Post, The Phnom Penh Post and the International Business Times. In 2017, he started a career as a Combat Sports Analyst for television and radio, appearing on various news shows for ABS-CBN, GMA, TV5, Radyo Singko 92.3 News FM, PTV 4, Business World, Radyo Pilipinas 2 and Bombo Radyo Philippines. He practices boxing at Tiger City Boxing Gym whenever he is not writing.


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