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| c/o ONE Championship |
Denice “The Menace” Zamboanga has relinquished the ONE Women's Atomweight MMA World Championship.
In a social media post on Tuesday, the first Filipina MMA World Champion announced her decision to vacate the throne after welcoming her first child with husband Fritz "Kid Tornado" Biagtan.
Out of respect for the division, she gave up the belt to allow contenders to pursue the title while she steps back to embrace motherhood.
“God has always had a beautiful plan for my life, and I trust His timing in everything. After much prayer and reflection, I have made the difficult decision to vacate my ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Championship,” Zamboanga wrote.
“This was not an easy choice, but I believe it is the right one for this season of my life and for the athletes in my division who continue to chase their dreams,” she added.
The 29-year-old Quezon City native has a 12-2 professional record, and is 7-2 in ONE Championship.
Zamboanga arrived at ONE in 2019 and quickly proved she belonged on the global stage. She rattled off three straight wins to open her promotional run, defeating Jihin “Shadow Cat” Radzuan, Mei “V.V” Yamaguchi, and Watsapinya “Dream Girl” Kaewkhong.
The path forward then took a detour. Zamboanga suffered back-to-back defeats to South Korea's Ham Seo Hee at ONE: Empower in 2021 and ONE X in 2022, respectively. Refusing to let the setbacks define her, she rebuilt herself from the ground up, returning a sharper and more dangerous version of herself.
The bounce-back was immediate and convincing. Zamboanga strung together three consecutive victories over “MMA Sister” Lin Heqin, Julie Mezabarba, and Noelle “Lil' Monkey” Grandjean, earning her way back to the top of the atomweight division and into contention for gold.
With a long-awaited showdown against then-ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Champion and former teammate Stamp Fairtex derailed by the Thai’s knee injury, Zamboanga was given an opportunity to challenge for the ONE Interim Women’s Atomweight MMA World Title.
At ONE Fight Night 27 in January 2025, Zamboanga met Ukraine's Alyona Rassohyna with a lifelong dream within reach. She ultimately stopped Rassohyna in the second round via TKO, earning the interim belt and a US$50,000 performance bonus in the process.
The monumental victory etched her name permanently in the Philippine MMA history books, a triumph earned through years of delays and heartbreak.
Four months later, Zamboanga was elevated to undisputed ONE Women's Atomweight MMA World Champion when Stamp suffered a setback in her knee rehabilitation in May 2025 and relinquished the lineal belt.
Zamboanga was slated to make her first World Title defense against Japan's Ayaka “Zombie” Miura at ONE 173 last November at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Medical concerns, which have since come to light as her pregnancy, forced her withdrawal.
The Filipina, however, made it clear she is not retiring. Zamboanga is turning her full attention to the most meaningful journey of her life, vowing to return when the time is right.
"While I am stepping away from the title, I am not stepping away from the sport I love. Fighting has shaped who I am, and the warrior in me will always remain,” Zamboanga said.
"Right now, my heart and focus are devoted to the greatest blessing God has entrusted to me. This season is teaching me that there are victories beyond championship belts, and I am embracing every moment of it with gratitude. This is not the end of my story. It’s simply a new chapter," she concluded.
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