5 Things You Might Not Know About Seo Hee Ham

Seo Hee Ham’s desire to bolster an already-impressive resume has taken her to a new address.

The well-traveled 34-year-old will make her promotional debut in a One Championship “Empower” co-feature, as she collides with the undefeated Denice Zamboanga in the quarterfinals of the organization’s atomweight grand prix on Sept. 3 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Ham enters the tournament with the wind of a six-fight winning streak in her sails. However, she has not competed since she eked out a split decision over Ayaka Hamasaki in their Rizin Fighting Federation 20 rematch on Dec. 31, 2019—more than 600 days ago.

As Ham makes final preparations for her pairing with Zamboanga, here are five things you might not know about her:

1. In a sink-or-swim sport, she did the latter.

Ham made her professional MMA debut as a 19-year-old on Feb. 16, 2007, as she took a two-round unanimous decision from Hisae Watanabe at Deep 28 Impact. She has been a model of consistency ever since, having suffered back-to-back defeats just once in her 31-fight career.

2. Hardware lines her trophy case.

The South Korean star has captured titles in three organizations: Jewels, Road Fighting Championship and Rizin Fighting Federation. Ham won the Jewels atomweight title with a unanimous decision over Naho Sugiyama on May 25, 2013, laid claim to the Road Fighting Championship atomweight crown with a third-round technical knockout of Mina Kurobe on June 10, 2017 and took home the Rizin Fighting Federation super atomweight belt with the aforementioned decision over Hamasaki.

3. Judges favor her style.

Ham has gone the distance 21 times and owns a 16-5 record in those bouts. Hamasaki, Danielle Taylor, Bec Rawlings, Joanne Calderwood and Yuka Tsuji were responsible for her only defeats on the scorecards.

4. She has experienced the brightest of spotlights.

“Hamderlei Silva” enjoyed a brief stint in the Ultimate Fighting Championship between Dec. 12, 2014 and Nov. 26, 2016. She went 1-3 in four appearances inside the Octagon, delivering her lone victory in a unanimous decision over Cortney Casey at UFC Fight Night 79.

5. She surrounds herself with the right people.

Ham operates out of the Busan Team MAD camp in her native South Korea, where she has sharpened her world-class skills alongside fellow UFC veterans Kyung Ho Kang, Dong Hyun Ma and Doo Ho Choi.