Seo Hee Ham is excited to face ONE Championship's top contender Denice Zamboanga in her very first match in ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix.

She is scheduled to face off with Zamboanga in the first round of the Grand Prix, which takes place at the historic ONE: Empower on September 3.

“I didn’t want to be up against a weak opponent. So, when I heard the opponent was Denice, I was glad that I was up against a strong opponent that I could have an awesome match with,” said Ham.

Though this will be the first time Ham will step into the Circle, she knows what Zamboanga brings to the table.

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“She seems to like cage wrestling, so I trained largely on defending against that, as well as boxing,” Ham said. “I think she’s very strong, for sure. She likes to give her opponent a hard time while wrestling and likes to go to the ground to press them down."

“Also, seeing how Denice hits her opponents, she doesn’t use a KO punch but makes sure she’s not in the line of the opponent’s range to be hit. I studied a lot of things like this. Overall, I think I need to be careful.”

While the South Korean is wary of Zamboanga’s skills, she is confident that the Filipina’s strengths are nothing new to her.

“In preparation for this match, I have anticipated her takedown tactics and prepared a lot for them, so I don’t think I will be an easy target to take down,” Ham said.

“I have never been taken down and received a pounding to end the match before, so I doubt that it will happen this time.

“Regardless of who my opponent is in any match, I never give up. My style of doing whatever I need to do, I think, is considered my strength.”

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While she expects Zamboanga to bull-rush her from the opening bell, she plans to take a step back and look for the shot to end the night.

She’s confident that it will come.

“After the bell goes off for the first round, I will take my stance a distance from her, then assess my opponent and study her movement,” Ham said.

“Then I will move in for a one-shot knockout. This is what I’ve thought about constantly and imagined as I prepared for the tournament.”

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