A tweak in the card forced Team Lakay fighter Jenelyn Olsim out of the historic all-female ONE Championship mixed martial arts event: ONE: Empower this week.
"The Graceful" had been slated to face off against Grace Cleveland as one of two alternate bouts planned for the event on Friday night, but the American fighter had to bow out due to injury.
Even if it was arranged as an alternate bout, Olsim saw that matchup against the "Thai Kitten" as a golden opportunity for the world to witness what she can do at the atomweight division, especially with the centerpiece of ONE: Empower being the Women's Atomweight World Grand Prix.
The 24-year old was understandably devastated upon learning the news of the cancellation of her fight. She says, "It's just so sad. I, together with my team, were really preparing hard for this match."
Olsim was fresh from securing an impressive victory over Bi Nguyen at ONE: Battleground III, which had been shown on August 27, a performance that earned her a spot on the card as an alternate. Unfortunately, her American opponent had to bow out due to a potential case of vertigo. Cleveland went on social media platform to share her perspective.
Amidst that disappointment, Olsim and her camp shared their concerns about their opponent's condition and wished for her speedy recovery.
Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao shares, "The whole team is praying for the fast and complete recovery of Grace
Cleveland. Nobody wants to see these things happening, especially if
it's a medical issue. So we can only pray that she can recover and
that's really the most important thing for us at this time." He adds, "Yes, it's unfortunate because we were all looking forward to this fight
and Jenelyn has really been training hard for this. But we fully
understand the situation and all we're after is everyone's health and
well being."
Even if her fight remains cancelled, Olsim remains fully prepared in case she gets the call to take someone's place in the Grand Prix. She says, "I'm staying positive despite what happened. I know that I am still an eligible alternate for the Grand Prix, and I know that there's still a lot of opportunities awaiting me, so I just have to be prepared every time."
Both Olsim and Sangiao also showed their support and wished the best of luck towards Denice Zamboanga, who is participating in the Grand Prix as one of the eight hopefuls. The so-called "Lycan Queen" will face the fifth-ranked atomweight contender Seo Hee Ham.
When asked about that particular matchup, Sangiao says, "Denice and Seo Hee Ham are both driven to win the Grand Prix, but I have to side with Denice. I believe that Denice has really prepared so much for this match and I can see that she will do everything just to win this match and the Grand Prix. So as fellow Filipinos, we're here to support her and looking forward to her next matches."
ONE: Empower is ONE Championship’s historic, all-female fight card featuring only women -- the first for a major global martial arts organization. In the main event, reigning ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan defends her World Title against #2-ranked strawweight contender, Michelle Nicolini. The card will be shown locally through One Sports starting at 730pm.
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