"These things happen" - Chatri Sityodtong reacts after Stamp Fairtex pulls out of ONE 167 due to injury
ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong understands that injuries will always be part of the brutal nature of the fight game. The world's largest martial arts organization's boss was also saddened following news that Stamp Fairtex tore the meniscus in her left knee in training last week.
The three-sport queen is now on a full road to recovery after undergoing surgery last May 20. Unfortunately, she will no longer be able to defend her atomweight MMA belt against Denice Zamboanga at ONE 167 on June 7.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Sityodtong remained optimistic that the Thai superstar will be back in action soon.
"These things happen," he said. "The most important thing right now is for Stamp to rest and recover and rehab her knee so she's back. Hopefully, she's back in several months, even potentially for our Atlanta show. And there's more shows in the States for next year, so I'm pretty relaxed about that from a timing perspective. Plus, we have such a stacked card."
Meanwhile, ONE 167 will now be headlined by a featherweight Muay Thai battle between champion Tawanchai PK Saenchai against challenger Jo Nattawut.
The stacked card from Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, will air live on US Primetime on June 7, free of charge for Prime Video subscribers in North America.
Chatri Sityodtong reveals the extent of Stamp's injury
In the same interview, Sityodtong revealed how the unfortunate injury occurred during one of Stamp's standard sparring sessions at Fairtex Training Center.
The ONE head honcho recounted:
"It's a sad thing. One of her final sparring sessions prepping for the big event in a couple of weeks, she blew out her knee. Eighty percent of her meniscus was torn off her knee, and it was on a nasty takedown where her leg got caught. Her knee buckled. She just went for surgery, very successful surgery [on Sunday]."