Stamp Fairtex reveals the reason why she took up combat sports

Stamp Fairtex was bullied as a child growing up due to her small stature. She was small for her age, and was often picked on by schoolmates. This ultimately led her to taking up Muay Thai for self-defense.

Fast forward to today, and Stamp Fairtex is the ONE Atomweight Muay Thai and Kickboxing World Champion. She’s also undefeated as a mixed martial artist. Needless to say, her dedicated to “The Art of Eight Limbs” and martial arts has paid off.

Stamp looks back at her journey so far, and recalls how she got to this point in her life.

“When I was in kindergarten, I was tiny. The girls in school kept bullying me, and I could not stop them. I was scared because they were bigger than I was. That is why I started Muay Thai.”

She began training in her family’s gym. At the time, girls training in martial arts was uncommon, and she experienced gender discrimination at an early age.

“I decided to train Muay Thai with my brother and father. When I was young, I was the only female athlete in my village’s Muay Thai gym. Back then, people were not open to girls competing. They were afraid we might get hurt badly because they thought women were physically weaker than men.”

Luckily, Stamp’s parents fully supported her decision to become a fighter. And that’s all that mattered to her.

“My parents supported my Muay Thai dreams and encouraged me. Now, I really cannot live without it,” she said.

Eventually, she made her way to Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series, where she got her start. Stamp made an immediate impact, scoring a head-kick knockout in her first outing. When ONE Super Series came along, Stamp seemed like a perfect fit, and ONE immediately thrust her into the limelight.

She took care of business against former World Champion Kai Ting Chuang to capture the ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Championship, and followed up that victory with a points win over Janet Todd to claim the inaugural ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Championship.

The 22-year-old has achieved a level of success not often reached by people of her age. And she says she owes it all to her parents, who have been by her side since day one.

“Most women repay their parents by being good students, and then getting a good job so they can take care of them. Even though I have a different career, I repay them by making them proud, by becoming a World Champion.”

Stamp returns to action this 10 January at ONE: A NEW TOMORROW in Bangkok, where she faces India’s Puja Tomar next.

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