Stamp Fairtex prevails in battle between undefeated Thais at ONE: No Surrender

ONE: No Surrender was the promotion’s first major event since lockdown. It took place in Bangkok on Friday night (local time) and saw two undefeated Thai atomweights face off in MMA action.

Stamp Fairtex is better known for her exploits in the Muay Thai world. But she has put together a 4-0 record in MMA and was matched with compatriot Sunisa Srisen on a card that consisted entirely of fighters based in Thailand. 

Srisen came into the fight with a 3-0 record but clearly wasn’t confident in her striking and soon found herself in the clinch. It’s a bad spot to be in when your opponent is a multiple time Muay Thai champion and Stamp scored with a series of hard knees to the midsection.

The ended up in the corner of the ring and Srisen briefly turned her back on Stamp but was able to slip out just as the 22 year old looked set to take her back from a standing position. She still couldn’t escape from the clinch until the referee came to her rescue.

The two restarted in the middle of the ring with Stamp surprisingly reluctant to attack with kicks or punches. Perhaps the gameplan was to win the fight in the clinch because that is exactly what the Fairtex fighter proceeded to do. 

They clinched up and Stamp attacked relentlessly with knees to the midsection. Sunisa would have been relieved to collapse to the ground and escape the barrage but she was powerless to prevent her opponent from improving her position and finishing the fight.

Stamp transitioned from side control to taking Sunisa’s back with very little resistance. From there she continued to throw punches to her prone opponent until the referee had no option but to step in and stop the contest.

With the win Stamp improves to 5-0 and she still has her sights firmly set on a shot at reigning atomweight champion Angela Lee. Sunisa drops to 3-1 after suffering the first defeat of her career and has plenty of work to do if she wants to establish herself on the ONE Championship atomweight roster.

While the ONE Championship veteran easily overcame the promotional newcomer in this bout the other MMA fight on the card played out very differently. Fabricio Andrade is based at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket and signed very recently, the Brazilian was coming off a couple of wins in China.

By contrast Mark Abelardo had fought four times for ONE Championship and twice for ONE Warrior Series. The New Zealander is based at Fairtex in Pattaya and moved up a few lbs for this catchweight contest.

From the start Andrade used his height and reach to good effect, avoiding Abelardo’s right hands and takedowns while scoring with straight kicks and punches. When the action finally did go to the floor in the second stanza it was the Brazilian who made the most of it, sinking in a rear naked choke.

Abelardo never tapped but had to be rescued by the referee after losing consciousness. Andrade improves to 4-2 and announced himself to ONE Championship fans in style while the New Zealander drops to 19-8.

This was the first in a series of six events which ONE Championship will hold in Bangkok over the course of the next two months. The cards are all likely to consist of local fighters due to the travel restrictions currently in place.

• Flyweight Muay Thai World Championship
  Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon defeats Petchdam “The Baby Shark” Petchyindee Academy via unanimous decision
• Featherweight Muay Thai World Championship
  Petchmorakot Petchyindee Academy defeats Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex  via unanimous decision
• Superbon defeats Sitthichai “Killer Kid” Sitsongpeenong via unanimous decision
• Stamp Fairtex defeats Sunisa “Thunderstorm” Srisen via TKO at 3:59 of round one
• Fabricio “Wonder Boy” Andrade defeats Mark “Tyson” Fairtex Abelardo via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:11 of round two
• Superlek “The Kicking Machine” Kiatmoo9 defeats “The Angel Warrior” Panpayak Jitmuangnon via unanimous decision