Introduction
Friday, February 5th, Thai strawweight prospect Nong Stamp will be in action for ONE Championship, where she will be looking to continue her undefeated streak against fellow top prospect Alyona Rassohyna. She will be looking for another win, as Stamp looks to impress the ONE brass in an attempt to earn a shot at the title. She represents Fairtex Pattaya, a striker’s camp in combat sports. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Muay Thai: Stamp’s background is in muay Thai, so obviously, it is her biggest strength. She has shared the ring with world class strikers in both Thai and kickboxing bouts to mostly positive results. In terms of her MMA striking, she has snappy kicks that do not have a ton of wind up, but do damage. She also has good, quick hands that land with great accuracy. While standing across from her opponent, she has good footwork and movement, which allows her to take angles properly and cut off her opponent. She’s also especially dangerous in the clinch. When she gets the Thai plum, she has lightning quick knees that land in devastating fashion, as well as cutting elbows that come from over the top. It would be wise for Stamp’s opponents to get her to the mat, as striking with her is not too wise.
Top Mat Position: Stamp has surprisingly effective grapping, given her extensive background in the striking arts. This is especially the case from the top position. Stamp is heavy on top and has excellent control of her opponent. She makes good transitions while looking to move to a better position, especially her favorite two spots: back control and full mount. She has excellent ground-and-pound, which is accurate and damaging. She has scored two ground-and-pound finishes thus far, smashing through both Sunisa Srisen and Puja Tomar. She also has shown she can score submissions, as she choked out previously undefeated Asha Roka. She still can make improvements, but she’s ahead of where many think she is as a champion striker.
Needs Improvement
Wrestling Question Marks: To this point, Stamp has not had her wrestling tested because she has not really fought an opponent with wrestling. That is the biggest question mark on this prospect thus far. In addition to taking kickboxing and muay Thai bouts with ONE, her MMA opponents have mostly been strikers. The top female fighters in the world are either wrestlers or fighters who are experienced against seasoned wrestler, which is important. Until we see Stamp take on somebody with solid wrestling, this will continue to be a question mark.
Strength of Schedule: Stamp is just five fights into her pro MMA career and still quite young, but to this point, she has not taken on a top-level opponent that we can judge her on to this point. The combined records of Stamp’s five opponents is 17-8, which is pretty good, but most of those fighters are still considered regional talent. Her biggest win to date, in my opinion, was in her second career pro fight against Asha Roka. She needs to start stepping up in competition, which will definitely happen when she takes on the experienced, ranked Alyona Rassohyna.
Outlook
ONE Champion: One of the scariest things about Nong Stamp is that she is this good and she is just 23 years old. Imagine her in five years. She is going to be a world champion mixed martial artist. Despite not having the strongest strength of schedule, that’s okay. She is building herself up and gaining experience in the cage. With the level of her striking and the developments in her ground game, there is no way she doesn’t challenge for-if not win-the ONE Championship in the next few years. Stamp is a definite blue chipper.
MMA Intel 