“A very special place” - Jonathan Di Bella bares his love for chance to compete inside the ‘legendary’ Lumpinee Stadium
Jonathan Di Bella is excited for the opportunity to once again compete inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Though he will technically be in enemy territory as he takes on hometown hero Prajanchai PK Saenchai in the ONE Friday Fights 68 headliner on Friday, June 28, the undefeated Canadian-Italian is nonetheless thrilled to have another go inside the Mecca of Muay Thai.
"Yeah, I like Lumpinee," Di Bella said during an interview with Bolasport. "The Lumpinee Stadium is a very special place for combat sports, you know. I saw a lot of it when I was a kid, you know, I saw all the videos and all the fights on TV and I heard about it and it's a legendary place.
"When I fought there last time, it was even better than I thought or imagined because it was a very cool, very intimate arena."
The last time Jonathan Di Bella competed inside Lumpinee was at ONE Fight Night 15 in October last year when he scored a unanimous decision victory over three-sport superstar Danial Williams to retain the ONE strawweight kickboxing crown.
Six months later, Di Bella would lose the belt most frustratingly.
Jonathan Di Bella on a mission when he returns
Set to put his 26 pounds of gold on the line against Prajanchai at ONE Friday Fights 58 back in April, Di Bella failed to pass his hydration test. As a result, he bowed out of the fight, thus vacating his strawweight kickboxing belt.
Now, he'll have the chance to reclaim the title he technically never lost, but to do so, he'll have to go through Prajanchai who already sits as ONE Championship's reigning strawweight Muay Thai world champion.
Will Prajanchai add a second ONE world title to his growing collection, or will Jonathan Di Bella pick up right where he left off and take kickboxing gold back home to Canada?
ONE Championship will present ONE Friday Fights 68 on Friday, June 28. Click here to purchase the event via pay-per-view.