ONE Championship to review Seo Hee Ham vs. Denice Zamboanga split verdict

Seo Hee Ham and Denice Zamboanga | ONE Championship

ONE Championship is taking judges to task again.

Following Seo Hee Ham’s narrow split decision win over Denice Zamboanga at this past Friday’s ONE Championship: Empower event in Singapore, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced that the promotion would be conducting an official review of the judges’ scores.

The announcement was made via ONE’s Twitter account:

NEWS ALERT The fight between Denice Zamboanga and Seo Hee Ham is under official review by the ONE Competition Committee. @DZDenice @yodchatri #ONEEmpower #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/vZ2FkPf3wZ

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 5, 2021

Ham, a champion in RIZIN, defeated Zamboanga in a close fight to advance to the semifinals of ONE’s eight-woman atomweight grand prix. “Hamderlei” showed flashes of her dangerous striking, but had difficulty dealing with the grappling-minded Zamboanga. After three rounds of action, two of the judges scored the bout in Ham’s favor.

This is not the first time that ONE has reviewed a controversial decision. Notably, in May 2019, a kickboxing bout between Giorgio Petrosyan and Petchmorrakot Petchyindee was overturned from a decision win for Petchyindee to a no contest following a review from the ONE Competition Committee. That matchup was also part of a tournament and Petrosyan would go on to win an immediate rematch by unanimous decision.

Watch highlights from the Ham vs. Zamboanga bout below and judge for yourself whether the original verdict was correct.