By Kevin Estrada
ONE Championship has slated an all-female fight card for the first time in its illustrious history at ONE: Empower which will be shown live on Friday, 28 May.
Five match-ups will be on deck as the event also marks the start of the Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix, with eight fighters will be battling for the right to challenge titleholder Angela Lee, with the Singaporean currently on maternity leave.
The main event after the Grand Prix bouts features Chinese champion Xiong Jing Nan, who will defend her ONE Strawweight belt for the fifth time against second-ranked Brazilian Michelle Nicolini.
Four of the top five contenders in the ONE Athlete Rankings are on deck for the event, with fifth-ranked Mei Yamaguchi relegated as an alternate after the slate was revealed last February.
Highlighting the quarterfinal fixtures is top-ranked contender Denice Zamboanga. Entering the tournament as the top seed, she will take on ONE debutante Seo Hee Ham in the penultimate fight of the evening with her 8-0 record put on the line.
The unbeaten lass from Quezon City will not take the ex-UFC fighter from South Korea lightly, as the latter had a 23-8 record before making the jump to ONE.
Apart from the Zamboanga-Seo tiff, the other bouts in the Grand Prix see second-ranked Meng Bo taking on undefeated Indian Ritu Phogat, Itsuki Hirata locking horns with newcomer Alyse Anderson, and third-seed Ukrainian Alyona Rassohyna looking to repeat against fourth-ranked contender Stamp Fairtex.
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