The rivalry between Ham Seo Hee and Itsuki Hirata may have featured just one fight, but the scenes preceding their fateful meeting were as tense as any trilogy.
The two generational stars were originally set to face at ONE 163 in November 2022, but Hirata failed to make the atomweight limit. Although a catchweight bout could be negotiated, Ham declined such stipulation, and their eventual meeting was pushed back almost four months later.
Ham and Hirata ultimately settled their score on an Amazon card at ONE Fight Night 8 in March 2023 in Singapore. Following months of uncertainty, Ham made sure that her victory was as certain as the rising sun.
The South Korean veteran controlled the bout with her superior striking, while Hirata failed to secure any significant offensive sequence during the match. Ham would ultimately capture the dominant unanimous decision win.
Ham’s victory over Hirata also pushed her to a match against Stamp Fairtex for the ONE interim women’s atomweight world title at ONE Fight Night 14 on September 29.
Ahead of Ham’s world title bout, ONE Championship posted her match against Hirata as well as some behind-the-scenes footage of the weigh-ins.
“Ahead of South Korean star Ham Seo Hee’s ONE Interim Atomweight MMA World Title showdown with Stamp Fairtex on September 1, relive all the action from her showdown with Japanese phenom Itsuki Hirata at ONE Fight Night 8!”
Ham is 3-0 in ONE Championship and once held titles for Rizin, Road FC, and Jewels. Her bout against Stamp is quite possibly the biggest one of her already brilliant career.
Stamp, meanwhile, seeks the chance to capture a third world title in as many sports in ONE. The Thai megastar, at one point, held both the ONE atomweight Muay Thai and kickboxing world titles simultaneously.
She then captured the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix title but failed in her bid for the ONE women’s atomweight world title against Angela Lee at ONE X.
ONE Fight Night 14 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.