By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Ladies and gentlemen, the Philippines finally has a Filipina ONE Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) champion.

During the highly-anticipated co-main event of the ONE Fighting Championship Fight Night 27, Filipina MMA superstar Denice Zamboanga pulled off her best performance in her professional career after scoring a technical knockout victory over Alyona Rassohyna of Ukraine to claim the Interim Women’s Atomweight championship belt, at the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 28-year-old veteran was expected to dominate the stand-up fight, but what stood out during her title-clinching win was her improved ground arsenal.

Rassohyna, who is known for her lethal take-down fighting style, failed to clamp Zamboanga in most of her attempts as the Filipina stalwart devised strategies in sprawling away from trouble.

Aside from her clever sprawls, Zamboanga flaunted her counter moves in unlocking the Ukrainian’s leg lock attempts, pinning her waist with her thighs while rolling at the side to get back to her feet.

With nothing going on for Rassohyna, the Ukrainian’s camp was left with limited options, as she couldn’t withstand Zamboanga’s punching power and slick stance switches.

The start of the second round became a bloodbath as Rassohyna received brutal elbows when Zamboanga finally got the dominant position in the ground.

It all started with a counter-initiation when Rassohyna took her down first, kicked off by great positioning in the mat followed by a series of moves to get the hard mount that Zamboanga wanted.

Just when Rassohyna thought Zamboanga was already exhausted, the Filipina champion proved her wrong and put the cherry on top with only 13 seconds left in the second frame.

In the final 24 seconds of the round, Zamboanga replicated her full mount on top position on the ground and finished the Ukrainian aspirant with a barrage of hammer fists and ground-and-pound strikes.

Official match referee Herb Dean then saw enough and waived the fight off in favor of Zamboanga, making her the first-ever Filipina MMA champion in the ONE FC scene.

After her stellar outing, Zamboanga was rewarded with a $50,000 (2,950,000 pesos) bonus by ONE FC’s CEO, Chatri Sityodtong.

“I’ve been here for years. I’ve made it through hard work, tears, and everything. I’m really speechless,” said Zamboanga during her post-fight interview.

All the sweat, tears, and years of training finally paid off. We are proud of you, Denice Zamboanga!