Stamp Fairtex sees room for improvement after latest win at The Inner Circle 20

Stamp Fairtex defeated Cynthia Flores by split decision in their atomweight Muay Thai bout at The Inner Circle 20 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, June 26, improving her record to 65-18. The former three-sport ONE World Champion navigated three competitive rounds of dirty boxing and relentless forward pressure, but the manner of the win left her cold.

Flores came out swinging from the opening bell and grew more dangerous as the fight progressed. Stamp controlled the early rounds but retreated defensively in the third, and an unexpected complication before the fight had thrown her preparation off before a single punch was thrown.

“I’m 100 percent confident I won the first round. The first was definitely mine. In the second round, I felt like I still had a slight edge over her. By the third round, though, I think I fought way too defensively and just tried to manage the game,” she said.

“I’m not going to use the excuse that this is only my second fight back. On top of that, I completely lost my focus. My mind was all over the place because my main trainer got sick and couldn’t be in my corner tonight. It really threw me off.”

Stamp Fairtex is focused on her MMA comeback

Stamp Fairtex has not softened her standards just because the comeback road has been difficult. A win is a win, but not at any standard — and the standard she showed against Flores was not the one she holds herself to.

She was direct about her feelings after the scorecards were read.

“I’m not happy with this fight at all. Seriously, I’m completely disappointed. Nobody’s happy with how it went, and neither am I,” she said.

“I know my performance tonight might not have lived up to everyone’s expectations, but I truly gave it everything I had out there.”

The bigger picture remains unchanged. Stamp is rebuilding toward an MMA comeback and an eventual title shot, and the signs are pointing in the right direction even when the performances are not yet where she wants them. Her conditioning held up better than her Kana fight, which is the baseline she needed to confirm.

“I need to get my body back to being sharp and agile. To be fair, my conditioning and breathing felt better in this fight compared to when I fought Kana. Against Kana, my gas tank was completely empty. In that fight, I survived purely on heart alone,” she said.