Stamp Fairtex Is Ready To Face Ritu Phogat And Itsuki Hirata
Thai superstar Stamp Fairtex is eager to return to ONE Championship, and she has a list of things she wants to accomplish in short order.
The reigning ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion has been spending time with her family in Thailand’s Rayong Province ever since the country imposed lockdown measures in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19.
During that stay, Stamp has been training with her boyfriend, ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon, and contemplating her next moves.
First, she desperately wants to challenge her longtime rival, ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Champion Janet “JT” Todd, to a rubber match and have the opportunity to regain her lost gold. Then, she wants to continue her journey toward making combat sports history.
“I would like to go back to training like normal and get back in the ring to take my World Title back [from Todd],” the 22-year-old previously said.
“I would like to chase my dream in mixed martial arts, too. I still want to be the three-sport World Champion.”
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Meanwhile, there are a couple of mixed martial artists who would love to test their grappling skills against the Muay Thai queen in the Circle.
Wrestling icon Ritu “The Indian Tigress” Phogat and judo sensation Itsuki “Strong Heart Fighter” Hirata have both previously expressed their desire to square off with the Fairtex Gym product, who seems very receptive to the idea.
“I met Ritu before, we fought in the same event. She is shorter but bigger than me. We have different body types,” Stamp says.
“As for Itsuki, she is good at the ground game. She won against Rika Ishige [in October], but that’s because Rika was smaller. Itsuki has more experience in mixed martial arts than Ritu. I think a fight between Itsuki and I would be crazy because we both really go for it.”
Both matches would be tantalizing for Stamp, who is unbeaten in mixed martial arts competition at 4-0. And each competitor would pose a unique threat in the grappling department.
At 156 cm tall, Phogat may indeed be the smallest and most inexperienced of the trio, but the Evolve representative is also a Commonwealth Wrestling Championships gold medalist who has used her elite grappling to crush opponents en route to a 2-0 professional record.
Hirata is undefeated, too. The young Japanese dynamo is a third-degree judo black belt with heavy hands and a flawless 7-0 professional record. What’s more, she’s finished every single opponent who has stood across from her in the Circle.
For her part, Stamp acknowledges that she must improve her ground game to hang with ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee.
However, the Thai star is confident that she’s prepared enough to battle Phogat and Hirata – and possibly spoil their unblemished slates.
“I know I am not ready and good enough with the ground game yet [to challenge Angela],” Stamp admits. “For Ritu or Itsuki, I can face both of them. I have no problem with that.”
Read more: Angela Lee Looks Forward To Denice Zamboanga Match
