Former two-sport ONE World Champion Stamp Fairtex is set for a historic return to Thailand this weekend, and she’s aiming to prove her brash opponent wrong.
Stamp takes on Anissa Meksen in the first-ever mixed rules super-fight in ONE’s women’s division this Saturday at ONE Fight Night 6: Superbon vs. Allazov inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
The usually calm and bubbly Thai has a different demeanor coming into the match, as she took to heart the French striker calling her just a “dancer.”
Being a former Muay Thai and kickboxing champion, Stamp was naturally not happy with the comments of her counterpart heading into their four-round bout, which will alternate between Muay Thai and MMA rounds.
“I can finish her in the MMA round because I’m better than her in MMA. She said her striking skill is better than mine. I want to ask her back, ‘Did you forget that I used to be Muay Thai World Champion?’ That means I will never let her bully me without a fight,” she said.
“Her words seems to ruin my reputation as Muay Thai World Champion. I can’t tell you which round, but I will definitely finish her by way of knockout or submission.”
Stamp, who has a 9-2 record in MMA, believes that her experience in the all-encompassing sport will be her main advantage in this bout.
While Meksen is a dangerous striker who has access to top-notch MMA training, the 25-year-old believes that it won’t be enough to surpass her in MMA, especially since she’s experienced hanging with some of the best atomweights in the division, like divisional queen Angela Lee, Jihin Radzuan, and Ritu Phogat, among others.
“I believe I have practiced more than her and have more experience on the ground because I have only been focusing on MMA during the past two years. I definitely had more time to concentrate on MMA compared to [Meksen], who just started training in MMA after hearing the news about the super-fight,” she continued.
“I don’t think she is good enough. And even though she had trained in MMA before, it was a long time ago. The fact that she doesn’t train it regularly, she should forget everything when it comes to a real fight.”
If Meksen looks at her as just a “dancer,” then Stamp plans to go along with it and let her talk.
In fact, she plans to show Meksen a little bit of her dance moves during their encounter.
“I’ve prepared to feed her with my elbows so that she can’t trash talk for good. It is okay to provoke your opponent with juicy trash talk, but I think she crossed the line too much this time,” she said. “She said I’m a dancer. So, my plan is that after I submit or knock her out, I’m going to dance right in front of her to show that she was just defeated by a dancer.”