3. Prajanchai P.K.Saenchaimuaythaigym vs Jonathan Di Bella (ONE Friday Fights 68)
I hesitate to say this fight will go down this week, because the last time I said that Jon Di Bella had a horrible weight cut that sent him to the hospital, cancelled the fight, and lost him his belt to boot. Now that Prajanchai is the interim champion – as well as the king in Muay Thai at this weight – and Jon is just a contender, the undefeated Di Bella must channel the challenger mentality as his team finalizes their preparations for this bout.
However, a champion in ONE is the least of what Prajanchai is. As a three-time Rajadamnern Stadium and two-time Lumpinee Stadium champion, the twenty-nine-year-old Thai is one of the greatest legends signed with ONE today. Though he lost the strawweight kickboxing title to Joseph Lasiri in 2022, he rebounded with four straight victories where he appeared stellar, including avenging that loss to the Italian last year with an elbow knockout and beating fellow legend Sam-A before that to regain the interim strawweight Muay Thai belt.
Prajanchai with the barrage to knockout Sam-A. He captures the interim title as well as a phat 50K bonus. #ONEFridayFights22 pic.twitter.com/ZjX03SZNaa
— ONE Championship on SCMP (@scmpmartialarts) June 23, 2023
Prajanchai is can’t-miss-TV and one of the best pound-for-pound strikers on the planet but might be just past his prime given the 395 professional fights under his belt. Most Thai age out much quicker than western combat sports fans are used to. The 27-year-old Canadian Di Bella has never tasted defeat as he has surgically picked apart lesser opponents, but now he runs into one of the true great strikers on Earth. In kickboxing, the Thai’s skillset will be more limited; he has only competed in the sport once before, best I can tell, when he defeated Akram Hamidi by decision. But in his past three fights, that is the only one he has not finished. Prajanchai is one small step away from being a two-sport undisputed champion, and it is hard to not favor him given the gulf in experience and competition between himself and Di Bella, although the Canadian kickboxer will never be an easy out.
-Val Dewar
