Seo Hee Ham

Ham Seo-hee (함서희; ; born March 8, 1987), anglicised as Seo Hee Ham, is a South Korean professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer.

She is currently signed to ONE Championship, where she is ranked #1 in the ONE Championship Women's Atomweight rankings.

Ham previously competed in the MMA promotions Deep, Smackgirl, Jewels, Road FC, UFC, and Rizin.

She is a former Jewels Atomweight Champion, former Road FC Women's Atomweight Champion, and former Rizin Women's Super Atomweight Champion.

Ham was born on March 8, 1987 in Gangwon Province, South Korea.

She started training in kickboxing in 2004, when she was in her second year of high school.

She was introduced to the Japanese MMA scene by UFC fighter Kim Dong-hyun.

With few female fighters to train with in South Korea, Ham regularly trains with male fighters, such as fellow gym member Dong Hyun Kim.

She is nicknamed "Hamderlei Silva" because of the similarities between her fighting style and Wanderlei Silva's style.

In Japan, she is occasionally nicknamed "Arale-chan", in reference to her looks outside of the ring bearing resemblance to the character Arale Norimaki from the manga series Dr. Slump.

Currently, Ham uses "Hamzzang" as her official nickname.

Ham debuted against Japanese MMA veteran Hisae Watanabe on February 16, 2007 at Deep 28 Impact, upsetting the favorite Watanabe by winning via unanimous decision.

Ham was defeated by Miku Matsumoto via triangle choke submission on May 13, 2007 at clubDeep Toyama: Barbarian Festival 6.

Ham rebounded back from her first loss with a unanimous decision victory over Ayumi Saito on September 6, 2007 at Smackgirl 2007: Queens' Hottest Summer.

On December 26, 2007 at Smackgirl 7th anniversary: Starting Over, Ham challenged Smackgirl Lightweight Champion Yuka Tsuji for her title, losing by unanimous decision in a match that Tsuji completely dominated.

On February 14, 2008, Ham participated in the Smackgirl World ReMix Tournament 2008 Opening Round, where she defeated Saori Ishioka by unanimous decision.

In the tournament semi-finals on April 25, 2008, Abe Ani Combat Club star Megumi Fujii handed Ham her third professional defeat by submitting her with an armbar in the Smackgirl World ReMix Tournament 2008 Second Round.

After a year without fights in MMA, Ham made her debut with MMA promotion Jewels and earned another victory on September 13, 2009 by defeating Misaki Takimoto by unanimous decision at Jewels 5th Ring.

Ham next participated at Jewels 9th Ring in the first round of the inaugural Jewels Lightweight Queen Tournament, held to crown the first Jewels Lightweight Champion, where she defeated Mai Ichii by unanimous decision on July 31, 2010.

Ham was slated to compete at Jewels 10th Ring, but since she decided to participate in two kickboxing matches with conflicting dates, Jewels released her.

Jewels later announced that she would still participate in the semi-finals of the Lightweight Queen Tournament at Jewels 11th Ring.

Ham faced Mika Nagano in the semi-finals and defeated Nagano by split decision.

In the tournament final later that night, Ham was defeated by Ayaka Hamasaki via unanimous decision.

Ham had a rematch against Saori Ishioka on February 25, 2011 at DEEP: 52 Impact in Tokyo, Japan.

She once again defeated Ishioka by unanimous decision.

On March 6, 2011, Ham faced Anna Saito in a mixed martial arts rules match at Gladiator 15: GI 2.

Ham defeated Saito by unanimous decision.

Ham faced Mei Yamaguchi in a Jewels vs. Valkyrie match at Jewels 15th Ring on July 9, 2011.

She defeated Yamaguchi by unanimous decision.

Ham challenged Jewels champion Ayaka Hamasaki in a rematch at Jewels 17th Ring on December 17, 2011.

She was defeated by TKO (corner stoppage) after the first round when she could not continue due to injury.

On April 21, 2013, Ham faced pro wrestler Ryo Mizunami at Gladiator: Dream, Power and Hope.

She defeated Mizunami by submission due to an armbar early in the first round.

Ham dropped down in weight to challenge Naho Sugiyama for the Jewels Atomweight queen title at Jewels 24th Ring on May 25, 2013.

She defeated Sugiyama by unanimous decision to become the new Jewels Atomweight queen champion.

Following Jewels' closure, Ham's title was renamed the Deep Jewels Atomweight championship.

She defended the title against Sadae Numata at Deep Jewels 2 on November 4, 2013.

Ham won the fight by unanimous decision.

In early November 2014 Seo Hee Ham signed a four-fight contract with Ultimate Fighting Championship to join UFC's Strawweight division.

She made her debut against Joanne Calderwood at The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned Finale on December 12, 2014.