Test of patience

A world MMA title has eluded ONE Championship Atomweight contender Denice Zamboanga. In 2019, the Filipina was scheduled to face champion Angela Lee for the belt. But that fell through after Lee, the glamor girl of ONE Championship, got pregnant. Three years later, another chance at the title came when she was meant to fight Stamp Fairtex. But that was also put off after the Thai fighter was injured. Also, the fighter nicknamed “The Menace” lost a controversial split decision to Ham Seo Hee in the ONE Championship Grand Prix last year.

Most recently, she was supposed to fight for the world title against Alyona Rassohyna on Oct. 5 this year, but hurt her knee doing basic drills in training. Once again, Denice’s shot at glory had to be postponed. But Denice takes it all in stride. In an interview with The STAR and dwAN 1206 AM, the former karateka opened up about all the delays in her trek to glory.

“Actually, all those delays in my career were a big help to me,” Zamboanga declares. “I took them as positive. I probably needed to train harder. I needed to add to my skills. So I took them as positive delays as a blessing.”

In spite of all of these setbacks, she decided to take everything in stride. It’s a lesson, an opportunity for growth. It isn’t anything to feel frustrated or ashamed about. It’s a chance to learn, improve, strengthen. Not a chance that everybody gets. She always prepares as if there’s a world title at stake.

“In every fight, I always think that I have to beat whoever that is,” Zamboanga adds. “I don’t think of whoever that may be. Every fight, I think of it as a championship.”

As she prepares for her next fight, against whomever it may be, Denice is focused on her one goal: winning a world title. Winning streak or no, what matters is that she finally, finally gets to wear the belt that tells everyone that she is a world champion.

“I know that I can be a world champion,” says the petite fighter. “My dream is to bring that belt to the Philippines.”

And with an attitude like that, who can stop her?