Stamp Outstrikes Mezabarba, Phogat Outwrestles Olsim in GP Semifinals at One ‘NextGen’

The atomweight grand prix promoted by One Championship saw two alternates step to the stage after Itsuki Hirata and Seo Hee Ham pulled out recently.

Friday’s “One: NextGen” card was headlined Stamp Fairtex (7-1, 7-1 One) taking on Julie Mezabarba (9-3-1, 1-1 One), a substitute for Ham. Stamp, a former One atomweight kickboxing and muay Thai champ, took her time early, mainly attacking with leg kicks. The Brazilian intercepted a few of those shots and worked her way to bring the battle to closer quarters. Her attempts to transform the fight into a hand-to-hand contest fell short after her wrestling maneuvers were blocked by Stamp, who displayed a remarkable improvement in her grappling skills.

In the second frame, the 24-year-old Thai kept her opponent at bay with flashy kicks. Mezabarba really dug in her heels to score a takedown that eventually shifted the action to the floor. Much to the Brazilian’s surprise, Stamp swept her way to full mount position shortly after being floored and punished her opponent with some vicious elbows from above before taking her foe’s back and almost finishing the contest with a rear-naked choke. In Round 3, Stamp resorted to front kicks and short punches to ferry the tilt to its conclusion. The cageside judges unanimously scored it in favor of Stamp, who earned her spot in the tournament finale in addition to ending Mezabarba’s six-bout winning streak.

In the co-main event, flawless wrestling spurred Ritu Phogat (7-1, 7-1 One) to a unanimous decision over Jennifer Olsim (5-3, 2-1 One), who stepped in to replace Hirata. The Commonwealth wrestling gold medalist made the most out of her background and suffocated her opponent with relentless takedowns. Olsim, back on the mat, retaliated with futile submission attempts and also threw an illegal upkick that landed while Phogat was grounded in Round 1. “The Indian Tigress” recovered from the shot and scored a slam in the second stanza, landing ground-and-pound through her opponent’s submission attempts until the contest’s end. When the dust settled, the ring announcer revealed that Phogat won by unanimous decision to advance to the grand prix finale to face Stamp.

RITU STAMP Your finalists for the ONE Women's Atomweight World Grand Prix! @PhogatRitu #ONENextGen #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/t90X8DpzII

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) October 29, 2021

Elsewhere, Iraj Azizpour (1-0 One) made his successful big-scene debut after outstriking Anderson “Braddock” Silva (2-4 One) en route to a unanimous decision in a kickboxing heavyweight affair. Elsewhere, Kirill Grishenko (5-0, 2-0 One) did enough to outpoint Dana White’s Contender Series alum Dustin Joynson (6-1, 1NC; 0-1 One) on the scorecards, taking home a unanimous decision at heavyweight; in a One’s strawweight rematch, Jeremy Miado (10-4, 4-4 One) punched Li Tao Miao (6-5, 4-4 One) until the Chinese fighter turned his back to “The Jaguar,” forcing the referee to stop the contest after 15 seconds in Round 2.

In a kickboxing light heavyweight clash that opened the event, Beybulat Isaev (2-1 One) overcame a second-round knockdown to spoil the promotional debut of Bogdan Stoica (0-1 One) with a unanimous decision.