“Arale Chan” Seo Hee Ham believes she deserved the highly contentious split-decision victory over Denice “Lycan Queen” Zamboanga at ONE: EMPOWER last Friday, September 3.
The highly-touted South Korean advanced to the semifinals of the historic ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix after beating Zamboanga in a match that many felt should have tilted toward the Filipina.
It was a classic battle between striker and grappler, with Ham controlling the fight in the striking game and Zamboanga grinding her down with wrestling.
Many felt that Zamboanga’s ability to control the tempo of the match from the first round was enough to award her the victory, but “Arale Chan” is defiant.
“She should go and study the rules first, because if she knows the rules from the start to the end. I believe she would agree I won the fight, so I don’t know what to say,” Ham said in the post-fight interview.
“I really don’t understand why this is causing some controversy.
“Just look at our faces. Faces speak the result. If the fans would study more about ONE rules, they might feel the same way.”
Perhaps the biggest contention of the night came when Zamboanga finished the match strong, nailing a takedown and unleashing ground and pound right after the match was halted due to an inadvertent clash of heads.
Many felt that the sequence was the clincher to an otherwise tough victory for the Filipina, but two of the three judges disagreed. Ham also feels the same way.
“If Denice really thought she was winning and she had that interval, she wouldn’t have desperately tried that takedown, running towards me,” Ham said.
“It just showed deep inside she knew she was losing and needed to do something to win this fight. That action itself shows the decision was right.”
While the decision steered controversy, “Arale Chan” maintains that she didn’t feel pressured at all during the bout.
Instead, she urges the people to study the rules and try to watch the match again to get more clarity.
“In any point of the fight, I never thought I was losing, because if you know ONE Championship’s ruleset, it’s a bit different,” she said.
“Takedowns or the clinch, she wasn’t advancing her position. She wasn’t really effective. Damage-wise, I believe I was clearly winning. I believe the people [should] look at the rules and try to watch the fight again.”
ONE Championship returns to live action with ONE: REVOLUTION on September 24. Catch all the action by downloading the ONE Super App.