“This is the montage scene” - Matt Lucas says atomweight MMA queen Stamp continues to press on with her rehab after knee injury
She may be out of competition, but Stamp Fairtex continues to fight on after suffering a harrowing knee injury.
The reigning ONE women's atomweight MMA world champion was supposed to defend her throne against close friend and former training partner Denice Zamboanga at ONE 167.
That match, however, got scrapped after Stamp suffered a torn meniscus during training.
Stamp has since undergone knee surgery and is going through physical therapy to get back into action.
Matt Lucas, Director of Public Relations at Fairtex Training Center, said Stamp goes through rehab "several times a week" in a medical facility two hours from her home in Chon Buri, Thailand.
He took to Instagram and wrote:
"Stamp goes to rehab several times a week. The drive is long. Her parents take her from Chonburi the two hours to the clinic. She does her exercises while the world around her moves by"
He added:
"So the rehab continues on. This is the montage scene. But it could take months for Stamp to get back together. In the meantime, there is nothing for her to do but to keep fighting."
While Stamp is away from the cage to recover, ONE Championship instituted a match between Zamboanga and number four contender Alyona Rassohyna for the ONE interim women's atomweight MMA world title.
The interim world title match between Zamboanga and Rassohyna goes down at ONE Fight Night 25 on October 4, U.S. primetime, at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.
Just like all of ONE Championship's Amazon cards, ONE Fight Night 25 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Denice Zamboanga says she'll wait for Stamp Fairtex to recover
They may have been scheduled to fight for ONE Championship gold, but Denice Zamboanga and Stamp Fairtex remain as close as ever.
The "besties" were once training partners at Fairtex Training Center in Thailand before Zamboanga returned home to the Philippines and joined her older brother Drex's stable T-Rex MMA.
In an interview with EssentiallySports, Zamboanga said she'd wait until Stamp fully recovers before talking about a world title fight.
She said:
"Just for the fans, I think a year or so. It's really up to her [Stamp]. I want her at 100 percent when we fight. I don't want to pressure her to compete before she's fully recovered."